Body blows

The issue of water safety has been in the spotlight recently after a report in the Century Weekly magazine earlier this month quoted unnamed industry insiders who said only about 50 percent of the water in urban areas actually meets the required standards.

A second body blow was delivered by Dong Liangjie, an expert in heavy metal pollution in water and a former researcher at the University of Hawaii. Quoting a paper recently published in a scientific journal, Dong claimed that researchers have found contaminants in all 23 water-testing areas that, under certain conditions, can produce effects similar to contraceptives.

Meanwhile, other experts said that, given the severely polluted state of the source water and the ineffectual treatment processes, less than 50 percent of the nation’s tap water reaches the required standards.

In response, officials from several areas went on the record to say that tap water is safe to drink, in their provinces at least. The figures they released were all higher than 95 percent, a huge increase on those quoted by most media.

Four days after the Century Weekly magazine report was published, Shao Yisheng, director of the monitoring center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, released the latest official safety figures: 83 percent. Shao cited a survey conducted by the ministry in 2011, but didn’t reveal the locations of the 17 percent that failed to meet national standards.

"The water quality in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai is relatively stable, but for residents of small cities, 50 percent or 83 percent doesn’t really mean anything."

Netizens were dissatisfied with Shao’s figures and asked for more information, including the locations where the water quality failed to meet the standards. They also wanted to know what measures have been taken to rectify the situation, but the ministry has turned down requests for interviews on the topic.