China releases report on air, water quality for January-May period

China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment released a report on the country's air and water quality for the period January to May 2021.

From January to May, data collected from 3,641 monitored water sections demonstrated an improvement in water quality. The proportion of surface water with fairly good quality rose one percentage point year on year to 81.8 percent. The proportion of surface water below Grade V, the lowest level, stood at 2.1 percent, down by 0.7 percentage points year on year, revealed the report. The main pollution indicators include chemical oxygen demand (COD), permanganate index and total phosphorus.

The percentage of days with good air quality was 84.6 percent in 339 cities at and above the prefecture-level from January to May, down by 0.3 percentage points year on year. The percentage of days with good air quality was 63.3 percent in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and neighboring areas, up by 0.1 percentage points year on year, while that in Beijing was 68.2 percent, down by 12.1 percentage points. The top three cities with good air quality were Haikou, Zhuhai and Zhongshan, respectively.