More than 70 percent of China's rivers and lakes are polluted, aggregating water shortages and threatening drinking water safety, Wang Shucheng, China's minister of Water Resources, told a conference  yesterday.
 "Currently, 300 million Chinese people are drinking unsafe water, including 190 million who are drinking water with harmful substances above set standards," Wang said at a meeting of water bureau directors held in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.
The Chinese government has allocated more than 18 billion yuan (US$2.17 billion) to build 800,000 drinking water projects in rural areas since 2000.
But water safety in many outlying areas has not been guaranteed, said Zhai Haohui, vice-minister of Water Resources.
"More than 63 million rural people living in northern, northwest, northeast and eastern China are drinking water containing fluorine levels above standards," he said.
In addition, 60 million people in 110 counties in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces are threatened by water-borne parasites, Zhai said.
Safeguarding drinking water is the top priority among the Chinese government's efforts to protect water resources, Wang said.
The state government will take measures to ensure drinking water safety for all rural residents by 2020, he said.
In southern China's Guangdong Province, the Pearl River Water Resources Committee has worked out an emergency plan to divert water from other parts of the country to help fight the severe drought and salt tide now plaguing the delta region.
Wang Qiusheng, deputy director of the committee, said the emergency plan for water diversion has been completed and is awaiting approval from the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
Under the plan, if serious salt tides occur, water will be discharged from reservoirs to dilute the salt content. The facilities earmarked include the Tianshengqiao Reservoir in southwest China's Guizhou Province, Yantan Reservoir in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Feilaixia Reservoir on the upper reaches of Beijiang River.
The drought in the Pearl River Delta region, mostly in Guangdong Province, has been worsening since autumn, and as a result, this year's salt tide began 15 days earlier than last year, said Wang.
"The worst dry season in half a century is affecting the Xijiang, Beijiang and Dongjiang rivers, three tributaries of the Pearl River. I'm afraid the worst salt tide in the Pearl River Delta region since 1963 might occur," he said.