China will soon promulgate a new set of national compulsory
standards on drinking water quality, a senior official from the
Ministry of Construction said Tuesday.
The new standards represent the first revision of China's
current standards issued in 1985, before rapid industrialization
left most of the country's water bodies in pollution.
Zhang Yue, deputy head of the ministry's urban construction
department, told Xinhua that the new standards requires tests on
over 100 water quality indices, far more than the current 35
indices.
The new indices mainly have to do with organic pollutants and
other harmful substances in the water as a result of industrial
pollution, he said.
According to Zhang, the new standards are on a par with that of
moderately-developed countries.
Work on the new standards is being coordinated by the
Standardization Administration of China and involves the Ministry
of Construction and the Ministry of Health, in response to rising
public call for the revision of the outdated standards.
The Ministry of Health published the draft version of the new
standards on May 19 to solicit public opinions.
(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2006)