China is pledging that every rural family will have access to clean drinking water by 2020, with a third of the target reached by 2010. The promise is in China’s millennium goals declared to the United Nations. Officials are working on a blueprint to bring clean water to 300 million rural people who lack access.

Unsafe water is linked to more than 50 diseases in China. Over the past five years, more than 14 million rural families have gained access to drinking water. Zhai Haohui, vice-minister of water resources, urged water agencies to determine local needs, protect water sources and watch out for pollution.

Water shortages pose a threat to food security, according to Professor Cai Dianxiong from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. About 90% of drinking water is used for farming, most of it to irrigate rice paddies. However, millions of rice farmers have switched to cash crops, while cities sprawl over former paddy fields. China has an annual deficit of around 4m tonnes of rice.

Source: China Daily, 29 Nov 2004 ; Poppy Sebag-Montefiore, BBC, 19 Nov 2004

Tags: policies & legislation, water distribution, water quality, water-related diseases