The new water quality standards which will go into effect on June 1 will be ensured cleaner and safer water, said an official with the Ministry of Construction Wednesday.

"According to the new standards, the number of monitoring items will be increased from the present 35 to 101," said Zhang Yue, deputy director of the Urban Construction Department of the ministry.

To deal with the worsening industrial liquid wastes discharge and pesticide contamination, the new standards include increased monitoring for 27 organic substances, said Zhang.

Stricter standards are set for testing by-products resulted from the wide use of disinfectants in water purification. Water suppliers will be given a year to update their equipment to meet the new standards because of the higher technical demands, said Zhang.

"The new standards will provide a better guarantee for people to use more healthy, cleaner water of higher quality," said Zhang.

According to Zhang, the monitoring point of the new standards will be water faucets, not only the water supply network where adherence to the current standards is measured.

From now to June 1, water suppliers throughout the country will work to improve their equipment to meet the new standards so that all links in the water supply chain will be put under strict control, said Zhang.

The existing drinking water standards were issued and put into effect in 1985.

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2005)