Tap water coverage in rural China reaches 90 percent

(ECNS) -- Tap water coverage in rural China has reached 90 percent by the end of 2023, and the figure is aimed to be elevated to 92 percent by the end of 2024, according to the Ministry of Water Resources on Thursday.

Chen Mingzhong, director of the ministry's department of rural water resources and hydropower, stated that by the end of 2020, China had solved the drinking water security issues of 17.1 million impoverished people and addressed the problem of 10.95 million rural residents drinking high-fluoride or saline water.

According to its statistics, over the past decade, China has invested a total of 555.6 billion yuan （about $77.21 billion）in rural water supply projects, solving the drinking water security issues of 130 million rural residents. By the end of 2023, 5.63 million rural water supply projects had been completed nationwide, serving 870 million people.