In Gansu, it has the prolonged dream of farmers to have tap water, and today, Wuma villagers in Awu township of Gansu's Dangchang County, are about to realize their dream following several other villages in the township.

Gansu Province has been suffering from severe water shortage, and in years of drought, some residents in outlying areas would have to carry water from several kilometers away. In some areas, the fluorine content in water is above the healthy standards set by the Ministry of Health.

By the end of 1999, Gansu Province had 5.02 million people suffering drinking water shortage, among which more than one million people were drinking polluted water or water with high fluorine content.

The provincial government launched a program in 2000 to tackle the problem in rural areas of Gansu, and today more than 2.7 million people and an increasing number of farmers have access to tap water supply.

Clean water has kept diseases away and farmers have begun to grow vegetables and flowers as they have enough water.

Gansu province has set a three-year goal of solving the remaining 2.3 million rural people's water supply problem and supplying tap water to 35 percent of the rural townships in the province.

(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2003)