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China Vows to Ensure Water Supply for Its Residents
China's water resources minister says the country will do what it can to provide adequate and safe water to all its residents in the face of a water shortage.
Chen Lei made the pledge at a national water resources conference, which concluded on Sunday in the southern China city of Guilin.
"We will ensure that all residents have access to safe water by 2013. We will also establish a relatively high-standard maintenance system for safe water across the country by 2020. And we will make efforts to increase water resources by 79.5 billion cubic meters over the next 12 years."
Chen Lei said that his ministry will make efforts to improve the efficiency of water use, and set a target of reducing water consumption per unit of GDP to 125 cubic meters by 2020, down 60 percent from current levels.
Statistics released at the conference showed China lacked 40 billion cubic meters of water every year.
Two thirds of cities in the country suffer water shortages and more than 200 million rural people lack drinking water.
