140,000 impoverished people in Sichuan to get clean water

CHENGDU -- Southwest China's Sichuan province vows to make safe drinking water accessible to about 140,000 local residents living under the poverty line this year, the provincial water resources department announced Thursday.

The local government allocated 808 million yuan ($116.7 million) by the end of 2018 to provide 421,500 impoverished people in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture access to clean drinking water, according to the department.

Of the underprivileged people with no access to clean drinking water in the province, about 103,700 are from the 11 deep poverty-stricken counties in the prefecture, accounting for 67 percent of the province's total impoverished population.

More than 400 million yuan will be invested in the safe drinking water projects in the 11 counties this year, the department said.