Official warns against heavy metal pollution

SHENYANG: Environmental protection officials yesterday urged local governments to ward off heavy-metal pollution and beef up efforts to ensure the safety of drinking water.

The quality of one-fifth of the country's drinking water sources failed to reach national standards, leaving 90 million people with no access to clean water, Zhang Lijun, vice-minister of environmental protection, told the first national conference on drinking water protection held in Shenyang yesterday.

In urban areas, tap water is supplied by 4,000 centralized drinking water sources, including rivers, lakes, reservoirs and underground reserves.