Ensuring the safety of water supply
in cities is important to the improvement of people's living and
health standards, a Chinese senior official said at a press
conferee held in Beijing on Tuesday.
Vice Minister of Construction (MOC) Qiu Baoxing said that
authorities at different levels have done a lot of work in ensuring
the safety of urban water supply in recent years.
First, the MOC mapped out the Quality Standards for Urban Piped
Water, which came into effect on June 1, 2005. This document
provides for stricter standards for piped water quality, with the
number of quality indicators increasing to 101 from the original 35
prescribed in the Hygienic Standards for Domestic Drinking Water
promulgated in 1985.
The standards have also tightened the supervision and management of
urban piped water.
Second, the ministry has continued to adhere to the urban-rural
balanced development concept that guides the supply of water to
urbanized areas, water saving and wastewater treatment in recent
years.
Third, the reform of the urban water supply and wastewater
treatment sectors has been pushed forward. Reforms include opening
up the market, strengthening supervision, and optimizing
services.
Fourth, wastewater treatment facilities have been
established.
In addition, an emergency water supply system was put in place by
the MOC last year to ensure an uninterrupted supply of water.
China has so far set up 36 water inspection stations in
medium-sized and large cities. The stations give regular updates on
water quality.
"At present, the quality of piped water is much improved in the 36
cities," Qiu said. "According to statistics, water turbidity in
these cities decreased to 0.66 NTU in 2004 from 0.94 NTU in
2000."
NTUs -- nephelometric turbidity units -- are used to
measure the level of suspended matter including organic and silt
particles in drinking water. High quality water has a low NTU
reading.
(China.org.cn by Unisumoon June 8, 2005)