Over 60% of underground water substandard: report

China's underground water quality keeps falling with over 60 percent of monitored areas suffering "very poor" or "relatively poor" quality last year, a new report showed on Thursday.

The Ministry of Land and Resources monitored water quality at 4,896 spots in 202 cities across the country in 2014.

Underground water quality was ranked "relatively poor" in 45.4 percent of spots and "very poor" in another 16.1 percent last year, according to the ministry's annual findings.

According to China's underground water standards, water of relatively poor quality can only be used for drinking after proper treatment. Water of very poor quality cannot be used as source of drinking water at all.

The result means 61.5 percent of underground water could not be directly drunk last year, up from 59.6 percent in 2013 and 57.4 percent in 2012.

On a year-on-year basis, water quality became worse in 809 monitored spots, but improved in 751 areas.

China has recently introduced its Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention and Control to reduce pollutants, improve drinking water and promote water saving. Targets for improvements by the end of 2020 include reducing the percentage of "very poor" underground water.