The number of people in China's rural areas who lack access to safe drinking water has reduced by 221 million from 2004 to 2010, the vice minister of the country's National Development and Reform Commission said on Wednesday.

The feat was accomplished after the country launched a government-led rural drinking water project, which attracted an investment of 109.3 billion yuan (17.2 billion U.S. dollars) from 2005 to 2010, said Du Ying in his report delivered at the ongoing bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

In 2004, 323 million rural residents in China were found to lack clean drinking water, according to Du.

Despite the achievement, new water pollution has offset the impact of the country's cleaning efforts. In April, Chen Lei, the Minister of Water Resources, said in a government work report that as many as 242 million residents of rural areas still lack access to safe drinking water.

The Chinese government will strive to solve the problems concerning drinking water safety for millions of rural residents from 2011-2015, according to China's five-year plan on safe drinking water.

By 2015, nearly 80 percent of the rural population will have access to safe drinking water through centralized water supply facilities, Du vowed.

To improve drinking water quality in the countryside, the government will extend urban water supply networks, build centralized water supply systems away from cities and strengthen quality control over new drinking water projects, the official explained.

By 2015, the country will raise its drinking water supply capacity by 40 billion cubic meters, of which 26 billion cubic meters will be channeled to cities, according to the report.

China's drinking water sources are being threatened by industrial projects and other pollution, Du pointed out.

According to a survey launched by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2011, more than 11 percent of drinking water sources in cities of prefecture-level or above are below national standards.

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