298 mln more rural Chinese to have safe drinking water by 2015

 298 mln more rural Chinese to have safe drinking water by 2015

BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- About 298 million more rural residents in China are hopefully to have access to safe drinking water by 2015, according to a water resources official Monday.

Resolving the drinking water safety problem for these rural residents and 114,000 schools in the countryside by 2015 has been listed as one of the government's priority projects, said Yan Guanyu, deputy director of the China Irrigation and Drainage Development Center under the Ministry¹ of Water Resources.

A total of 196 million of the 298 million rural residents who do not have access to adequate and safe drinking water were newly added in recently years due to diminishing sources of safe water, worsening water pollution, rundown and under-qualified water facilities and the adoption² of new and stricter drinking water standards, Yan said.

China will invest 175 billion yuan (27.8 billion U.S. dollars) by 2015 to ensure supplies of safe drinking water in rural areas, according to a report delivered in June this year by Vice³ Minister of Water Resources Li Guoying to a session of the National People's Congress Standing⁴ Committee, China's top legislature.

Over the past decade, China has spent 178.6 billion yuan on building drinking water projects across the countryside, benefiting 326 million rural residents, according to data from the Ministry of Water Resources.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。