An emergency response system for the country's drinking water set up last year has helped improved water quality safeguards significantly, senior officials said Tuesday.

Some 3,500 emergency response measures dealing with environmental incidents have been drawn up by several provinces, Li Xinmin, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration's (SEPA) pollution control department, said.

The measures follow the SEPA's handbook on a national response scheme for environmental incidents released earlier this year, Li said in an online interview Tuesday posted on the central government website or www.gov.cn.

Li said the SEPA has responded to 261 environmental incidents since last year, of which 147 involved water pollution and 53 the safety of drinking water sources.

In response, 79 work teams and expert groups have been sent out by the SEPA to look at inter-regional practices on water pollution emergencies.

The SEPA is one of a number of government agencies engaged in ensuring safe drinking water.

The Ministry of Construction has also released emergency response schemes on urban water supply systems and researched 123 types of pollutants in water sources.

Shen Xujian, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission, which oversees the allocation of water resources, said the quality of drinking water in urban areas has greatly improved.

"Much work has been done on the protection of water sources, ensuring supply and monitoring quality," Shen said.

But he said severe water shortages persist in some regions and pollution remains a problem.

Water supply facilities, which the Ministry of Construction plans to renovate, are also relatively obsolete.

China has promised to provide safe drinking water for 160 million residents in 205 cities and 350 towns by 2010.

(China Daily November 21, 2007)