China to spend RMB 430bn cleaning up water supply

China plans to spend a total of 430 billion yuan on some 4,800 separate projects to improve the quality of its water supplies, the environment ministry said on Monday, the South China Morning Post reports. The Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a notice on its website that the central government had already allocated 13 billion yuan for this year, which would be used mainly to improve urban drinking water and prevent pollution in China’s major rivers. China is spending heavily to improve the quality of its water supply as it tries to reverse the damage done by unregulated chemical run-offs, untreated wastewater and the excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers. Nearly two-thirds of groundwater and one-third of surface water is deemed unsuitable for human contact.