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Drinking water supply program benefits rural dwellers
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-27 13:30
A total of 860 million rural residents in China have been benefited from the
improved drinking water supply, which has greatly reduced occurrences of
fluorine and arsenic poisoning.
This was disclosed by Qi Xiaoqiu, head of the Disease Prevention and Control
Department with the Ministry of Health, at a symposium on public health system
construction held recently in this capital city of China's southernmost island
province of Hainan.
By 2004, Qi said, tap water was available for about 60 percent of rural
households in the country, and approximately 130 million or 53.1 percent of
rural households have access to sanitary washrooms.
However, there are still some 300 million people in both urban and rural
areas who do not have access to reliable, safe drinking water, Qi
added.
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