China's ecological environment improves in H1

(ECNS) -- China’s ecological environment generally improved in the first half of the year, with air quality showing steady progress and surface water quality remaining stable, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said at a regular press conference on Tuesday.

Across 339 cities nationwide, the average concentration of hazardous airborne particles PM2.5 fell 6.6% year on year to 29.9 micrograms per cubic meter, while PM10 declined 7.4% to 50 micrograms per cubic meter, according to the ministry.

The average proportion of days with good or excellent air quality reached 82.8%, up 4.5 percentage points from a year earlier. The share of days with heavy pollution or worse fell 0.5 percentage points to 1%.

China has also seen clearer surface water. National surface water sections rated Grade I to III accounted for 87.4%, an increase of 3 percentage points, while the proportion rated below Grade V, the lowest level, dropped 1.2 percentage points to 0.9%.

Among 145 key lakes and reservoirs monitored, 75.9% had Grade I to III water quality, up 3.5 percentage points year on year. The share rated below Grade V fell to 3.4%.

(By Intern Lin Qiaochu, Zhang Dongfang)