CRI听力:Stricter National Drinking Water Standard to Come Into Play

The safety of drinking water has been making headlines following recent reports that say 50 percent of China's tap water is not up to national standards.

New testing results are rebuffing the reports, saying that 83 percent of drinking water flowing out of plants last year was safe.

The Chinese government is confident that the percentage is going to get higher with the new standards being introduced.

It's adding an additional 70 amendments to the drinking water standards.

Zhang Lan is an official with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The number of standard assessment tests has increased from 35 in 1985 to 106. That is because the water quality was higher in 1985, comparatively speaking, and the pollution was not as bad then. Besides, there were fewer water pollution incidents."

Among the new standards are restrictions on heavy metals.

"Standards against heavy metals are stricter because after years of research, we've come to realize that these standards have a greater impact on our health."

The new standard is said to be comparable to the European Union standard.

However, not all labs in the country have the capacity and money to carry out all 106 tests for their daily checks.

Under the new rule, 42 mandatory tests have to be carried out every day at water treatment plants.

The other 64 tests are elective.

The reason for the elective tests is because different provinces use different disinfectants to purify water.

As such, the elective tests cover different treatment chemicals.

For CRI, I'm Shen Chengcheng.