An additional 29.5 million rural residents in China were given
access to safe drinking water in 2006, pushing the total to 559
million, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Monday.
The central government has pledged an investment of 32 billion
yuan during the 2006-2010 period to ensure that 160 million rural
residents, mainly those in the western and middle regions, have
clean water to drink.
In 2006, the country invested 10.8 billion yuan in the project,
mainly for water-cleaning equipment and well-digging, which was
around half the total money invested during the 2000-2005 period,
the ministry said.
By the end of 2005, unclean drinking water, mainly polluted by
industrial waste, urban sewage, pesticides and fertilizers, had
threatened the health of 300 million Chinese rural residents, 37.5
percent of the country's 800 million rural residents, according to
ministry statistics.
Contaminated underground water, bitter salty water and water
polluted by excessive fluorin and arsenic have brought serious
risks to rural residents, the ministry said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2007)