One hundred and sixty million Chinese in rural areas will get clean and safe drinking water in the next five years, and all rural Chinese people will be provided with safe potable water to be funded the central government by 2015, Minister of Water Resources Wang Shucheng told Xinhua on Monday.

Currently, Wang said, 312 million Chinese villages are still facing water shortages or unsafe water contaminated by fluorine, arsenic, high levels of salt or other organic or industrial pollutants.

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