The Times (London
August 24, 2006

The water in China is unfit for drinking, the government admitted, as it announced plans to spend £70 billion (US$132 billion) over five years on sewage and water treatment facilities.

Beijing: The water in China is unfit for drinking, the Government admitted yesterday, as it announced plans to spend £70 billion over five years on sewage and water treatment facilities. Qiu Baoxing, the Vice-Minister of Construction and the man in charge of the huge investment programme, said that he used only bottled water to make tea because of the poor quality of tap water in Beijing. ñI can clearly tell you, our countryÍs water situation is deteriorating overall,î he said. ñWe are standing at a crossroads.î The Ministry of Construction said that continuous over-exploitation of ground water had led to a drastic decline of the water table and even the exhaustion of water sources in some areas. By the end of last year, a total of 278 Chinese cities still had no waste water treatment facilities and pollutants in industrial discharges in those places were often above permitted national standards. About 300 million people living in the countryside drink water tainted by chemicals and other pollutants, the Government said.