China's surface water quality hits record high in 2025

China's water ecological environment has undergone a "turning-point" improvement, with surface water quality reaching its best level since monitoring records began, an official with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said.

In 2025, 91.4 percent of the country's surface water was rated Grade III or better, said Jiang Huohua, director of the ministry's Department of Water Ecology and Environment, at a news conference on Thursday.

China has a five-tier surface water quality system, with Grade I being the highest. Water rated Grade III is suitable for the survival of most aquatic organisms.

According to the ministry, the proportion of surface water rated Grade III or better stood at 83.4 percent in 2020.

Jiang noted that the country's water ecological environment has continued to improve this year.

From January to May, the proportion of surface water rated Grade III or better reached 88 percent, up 2.4 percentage points year-on-year, he said.

The official also highlighted steady improvements in the country's major river basins.

In the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the proportion of water rated Grade III or better rose from 67 percent in 2015 to 96.5 percent in 2025, he said. The mainstream of the Yangtze River has maintained Grade II water quality along its entire length for six consecutive years.

Concentrations of total phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen in the Yangtze River basin have also fallen significantly, with reductions comparable to the improvement seen in Europe's Rhine River over nearly three decades, Jiang said.

The environmental gains have coincided with robust economic growth in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Over the past decade, the region's share of national GDP increased from 42.2 percent to 47.3 percent, while per capita disposable income rose from 23,000 yuan ($3,380) to 44,000 yuan.

"The figures show that high-level environmental protection has helped support high-quality development," he said.

The Yellow River has also seen continued improvement. Its mainstream has maintained Grade II water quality along its entire length for four consecutive years, while water worse than Grade V has been largely eliminated in its major tributaries, he said.

Jiang disclosed that from January to May, the proportion of water rated Grade III or better reached 90.9 percent in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and 88 percent in the Yellow River basin, up 0.1 percentage point and 5.6 percentage points year-on-year, respectively.