Guangzhou citizens are becoming less satisfied with government supervision, with many thinking product quality and service in the public sector need to be improved, a survey shows.

More than 20 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the local government's overall supervision on public utilities and service, while those satisfied accounted for 28 percent, down by 7.7 percent from 2008, according to the survey.

Carried out by the non-governmental Guangzhou social situation and public opinion research center in March, the questionnaire on public service polled more than 1,000 households in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, local Information Times reported on Monday.

Residents' degree of satisfaction with government supervision on safety, quality, service and price also declined by 9 to 12 percentage points.

Respondents said the product and service quality of the public sector involving water, electricity and gas supplies as well as cable television and environmental sanitation services mostly need to be improved.

Not a few people thought environmental sanitation was poor, although about 50 percent of respondents were satisfied with sanitation workers' service attitude.

"The city has become a lot cleaner than several years ago, but squares, street corners and many other public places are still dirty with rubbish and spit not cleaned up quickly," said Lu Yuwan, 48, a resident from the city's Tianhe district.

"Government should strengthen supervision of environmental sanitation and encourage people to develop healthy habits," she said.

"I found garbage like instant noodle containers and waste paper everywhere on the square, which gave me a bad impression of Guangzhou," said Zhang Li, a tourist from Shanxi province who visited the downtown Zhongxin square during the Labor Day holiday.

Also, about 26 percent of those polled were not satisfied with the quality of tap water and about 25 percent were unhappy with the quality of the bottled coal gas they use for cooking.

Only 35 percent of respondents were content with digital television service after it replaced analog television service, with many thinking the new service charges too much and the set-top box is inconvenient to use.