Focus on Rural Drinking Water Safety and Water Quality Monitoring Center

In June 2012, the "National Rural Drinking Water Safety Project 'Twelfth Five-Year Plan'" jointly compiled by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection was officially approved by the State Council. According to the plan, during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, the drinking water safety issues for 298 million rural residents (including state-owned farms and forestry farms) and 114,000 rural school teachers and students nationwide would be resolved. To ensure water quality safety, the plan required that each county establish a county-level rural drinking water safety water quality testing laboratory (center). The basic requirement was that each center possess the capability to conduct routine water quality testing (42 water quality indicators) for rural drinking water safety projects within its jurisdiction (including mobile water quality testing equipment such as water quality testing vehicles).