Hainan's clean air and water [Photo/VCG]

The ambient air quality of Hainan province was excellent in 2017 with 98.3 percent of the year being considered "fine air days", according to a bulletin released by the Department of Ecology and Environment Protection of Hainan Province on June 4.   

Hainan's ecological index last year reached 77.47, an increase of 1.73 points compared to the year before.

Haikou, capital of Hainan province, even ranked at the top of the air quality status report from January to April this year, released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on May 23.

The water quality of the offshore area and the surface water was both excellent on the whole. Compared to 2016, the fine rate of surface water increased by 4.3 percentage points to 94.4 percent. Besides one heavy polluted and three mild polluted rivers, the remaining 48 main rivers in the province are of a good quality.

All 28 concentrated drinking water sources in the 18 cities and counties reached the required standard of water quality.

Deng Xiaogang, head of the Department of Ecology and Environment Protection of Hainan Province, also spoke of measures to promote ecological development of the Haikou Jiangdong New District of China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone at a media forum held for World Environment Day that is celebrated on June 5 each year. He said local government plans to improve systems of energy, traffic, building and ecology to realize balance between carbon emission and absorption with methods such as adopting clean energy, decreasing vehicle emission and using natural building materials.