Drinking water in many of China's rural areas is unhealthy, with
44.36 percent failing to meet government standards, a Ministry of
Health spokesman said in Beijing on Monday.
"The condition of drinking water in rural areas still has a long
way to go to improve health conditions and living quality for rural
people," Mao Qunan told a regular press conference.
"The health conditions of the drinking water and sanitary
conditions for rural people still need improvement."
The figures came from a national survey conducted jointly by the
Ministry of Health and the National Committee for the Patriotic
Public Health Campaign -- the first investigation into drinking
water and sanitation conditions in rural areas.
Mao said unhealthy water led to outbreaks of diarrhoea and other
diseases, with 40.44 percent of surface water and 45.94 percent of
ground water below the regulatory standards released in 2006.
He said in the countryside, 74.87 percent of people drank water
from underground sources, while the rest drank surface water. He
blamed unhealthy water on microbial contamination.
"Most people living in rural areas do not have their drinking
water sterilized. Often they just drink the well water, which may
have been polluted," the spokesman said.
Sanitation was somewhat better in more densely populated areas,
with 85.23 percent of people living in villages or counties often
having their water boiled before drinking. This practice lowered
the chance of contracting a serious enteric infectious disease, Mao
added.
The survey, from August 2006 to November 2007, collected nearly
7,000 samples from 65,839 homes in 6,590 villages, covering 31
provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.
Besides water, the survey covered rural environmental sanitation
conditions. The results were not encouraging.
It found that a lack of sanitary toilets had caused great
inconvenience in rural areas, where only 23.83 percent of rural
families built sanitary toilets (those with special disinfecting
facilities). In such areas, most toilets were self-constructed,
being built inside or outside the courtyard.
Even worse, 90.04 percent of people used manure from these
insanitary toilets as fertilizer. "Using untreated manure as
fertilizer will increase the risk of diseases spreading and
devastate the health environment of rural areas," Mao noted.
He added the daily garbage volume per capita in rural areas had
reached 0.86 kilograms, and the annual garbage volume of all rural
areas across the country had approached 300 million tons. Much of
this refuse was disposed of randomly, something that caused serious
pollution.
Mao said China was investing 336 million yuan (46.86 million
U.S. dollars) this year to help local authorities build more
sanitary toilets and set up water quality supervision networks in
rural areas.
"It has been proven that providing healthy and safe drinking
water and making a healthy environment are the most effective way
to reduce diseases and promote human health conditions."
Mao added that in the past three years China had invested 482
million yuan in impoverished rural areas to help build toilets and
in making investigations on local areas' water quality.
"To better solve the issue, China will continue to emphasize on
the improvement work of water-quality supervision systems."
(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2008)
