China Makes Significant Strides in Improving Rural Living Environment

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced that China has made significant progress in improving the rural living environment, successfully eliminating the majority of large-scale black and odorous water bodies in rural areas.

As of the end of July, over 3,400 such dirty water bodies have been cleaned up, accomplishing 80 percent of the tasks set for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25). This achievement is attributed to a series of measures implemented by the ministry, which prioritize heavily polluted water bodies located near residential areas.

The ministry compiled a detailed list of all black and odorous water bodies in rural China and brought under its priority supervision about 4,000 of them. Another almost 10,000 were brought under the priority supervision of provincial-level authorities.

To ensure that the cleaned-up water bodies remain clean, the ministry conducts dynamic inspections and utilizes satellite remote sensing and water quality monitoring. Water quality monitoring carried out since 2022 in 2,612 water bodies that are no longer black and odorous shows that 97 percent of them have been adequately treated.

The ministry also urges and guides local authorities to rectify problems in a timely manner and establish long-term mechanisms to keep the water bodies clean.

In addition to addressing black and odorous water bodies, China has also made remarkable progress in the treatment of rural domestic sewage. As of June, about 45 percent of such waste water in rural China has been collected for treatment, compared with 28 percent in 2021. Over 2,700 county-level areas across the country have formulated plans dedicated to rural domestic sewage treatment.

The country has also seen the quality of its surface water generally improve in the first half of this year. About 88.8 percent of national monitoring sections across the country reported fairly good water quality from January to June, up by 1 percentage point year-on-year. Only 0.8 percent of these sections registered water quality below Grade V, down by 0.2 percentage point from the same period last year.

These achievements demonstrate China's commitment to improving the environment and living conditions in rural areas.