The Water Safety Program, which was launched in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in 2005, has benefited 4.31 million rural residents until the end of last year. Right now, the safe drinking water coverage rate in the region has reached 94 percent and 70 percent of households have access to running water.

Ningxia is one of the most arid areas across China and the per capita water resources ownership there is just one thirteenth of the national average level. According to Wu Hongxiang, head of department of Water Resources in Ningxia, there are still 467,000 people who cannot have safe drinking water at the mountain areas in southern Ningxia.

The construction of drinking water projects in the middle and southern part of Ningxia will be accelerated this year and innovative management modes will be explored to better protect the outcome of the projects, he added.