A river in Yichang, Central China's Hubei province, is severely polluted with garbage. [Photo/asianewsphoto]

New plan targets water pollution

China released the Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention and Control on April 16 to tackle serious water pollution, aiming to intensify government efforts to reduce emissions of pollutants and to protect supplies.

The plan calls for 70 percent of the water in the country's seven major river basins, including the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, to be in good condition by 2020, and for a continued improvement to 75 percent by 2030.

The amount of "black and smelly water" in urban areas will be reduced to 10 percent by 2020 and will largely disappear by 2030.