Local citizens will be able to drink tap water like people of the American and European countries as the city pledges to raise the tap water quality to the EPA standard (US) by 2010, eastday.com reports today.

Statistics by the local water supervision center indicate that city tap water has been much cleaner than before, nearly reaching the average level of that of some advanced western countries. The mark index of turbidity is also traced at historic low.

There has been sweetness, rather than previous odours, smelt from the tap water when it's tasted today.

To further clear the tap water to reach the 2010 goal, local water administration has planned to upgrade the processing technologies in upstream water plants of the city.

Take this year for example, two new reservoirs will be built in the suburbs of Luojing and Chenhang, a water base will start construction in Pudong, and six urban water plants will get complete facelifts.

According to the newly issued directive, the Professional Plan on Water Supply in Shanghai, downtown water pipeline network will also get revamped within eight years, using new materials to avoid pollution in the pipes.