Most environmental violations uncovered by China’s top environmental watchdog last year in bodies of water that supply drinking water and most discolored and foul-smelling water bodies it found in key cities have been addressed, the watchdog said.
Inspectors discovered 6,251 violations during two rounds of inspections involving 1,586 bodies of water in the 11 provinces and municipalities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt and many more around China in May and September.
He also said 95 percent of the 1,009 discolored and foul-smelling water bodies environmental officers found in 36 key cities have been cleaned.
"Defending clean waters" is a primary task for 2019, Li said, adding that a more comprehensive campaign, including an environmental protection and remediation project for the Yangtze River, pollution controls in Bohai Sea and for agricultural water pollution are needed.
According to the ministry, the quality of surface water in China markedly improved last year.
Monitoring at 1,940 sites found 71 percent of water at or above Grade III, the third-highest in the country’s five-tier water quality system, up by 3.1 percentage points.
Bodies of water listed below Grade V, the poorest quality, dropped by 1.6 percentage points to 6.7 percent.
In addition to protecting the water ecosystem, the ministry will devote more efforts to enhancing the governance of the increasing amount of solid waste in the country while continuing to reduce trash imports, Li said.
Trash imports fell by 46.5 percent year-on-year in 2018, Li said, adding that both the types and amounts of waste imports will be further reduced.
The ministry has been cracking down on illegal transfer and dumping of solid waste and hazardous waste, and 99.7 percent of 1,304 such violations the ministry found in 2018 have been rectified, Li said.