A man rows a boat through an oil slick on a lake in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province on March 16.Fuel leaking from ships severely contaminates the quality of the water in the lake. [Photo by Li Ruichang/China Daily]

In addition, the plan outlines principles to prevent and control pollution for underground water, bays, rivers and lakes, laying the foundations for management of water pollution, said Wu Shunze, deputy head of the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning.

There will be a series of detailed regulations to follow, he said.

According to the plan, governments are required to release water quality statistics regularly to the public. Cities will make the data public in 2016, and all counties will release the numbers in 2018.

In Beijing, drinking water quality can be tracked on the website of Beijing Waterworks Group.

There is a long way to go to reach the goal, considering the majority of cities do not provide the information, but it is not hard to achieve with the help of comprehensive efforts in the implementation of the action plan, Wu said.

Action plan's major targets

· By 2020, 70 percent of the water quality in the seven major river basins, including the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, will be in the top two quality levels, rising to 75 percent by 2030.

· By 2020, only 15 percent of groundwater quality will be quite bad, and 70 percent of bays will have good water quality.

Sources: Ministry of Environmental Protection