"The combined system we have at present is a waste because it demands water supply corporations to purify all water according to the State standards, when not all of that water will be used for drinking," argued Wang Wenyuan, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

"If we had two separate supply systems, we could price the two types of water differently and wouldn't have to spend money purifying water that won't be used for drinking," Wang said. "The proposal, aimed at tackling the problem of urban water shortages, is in the interests of the nation, suppliers and users as a whole." .

He argued that charging higher prices for drinking water, supplied through a separate tap, is a commonly accepted international practice.If such a system were to be put into practice in China, urban people would be able to drink purified water from their current taps while using recycled waste water supplied through different taps for other uses, Wang said.

He admitted that separating the water supply would require tremendous amounts of investment, which is a problem for most Chinese cities.

Nevertheless, Wang's suggestion was echoed by many of those attending the forum.

According to its 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05), South China's Guangdong Province plans to provide drinking water directly from a separate system at a budgeted cost of 8 billion yuan (US$967 million). Most of the money will come from private enterprises and the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2005.

Yesterday's forum was organized by the China International Exchange and Promotion Association for Medical and Health Care.

An official from the China Association of Urban Water Supply said at the forum that water in nearly all of China's cities meets the World Health Organization (WHO)'s requirements for purity.

Standards are determined by how much bacteria water contains.

According to the standards, the quantity of bacteria must be less than 100 per litre of water to make it suitable drinking.

Out of 564 major cities in China, 557 have water that is considered safe to drink by WHO standards and which does not require boiling, according to a survey conducted in 1999 quoted by Sheng Danian, a senior researcher with the association.

Sheng admitted that water in some cities may still contain carcinogenic substances, but added that the quantity of these substances is too low to have any effects on the human body.

According to Sheng, China has made rapid progress in cleaning up its rural water supply as well.

Statistics provided by the association showed that 62 per cent of water in rural areas has met State purity standards while in 1985, only 23.7 per cent of rural water was considered safe enough for drinking.

"Despite that progress, we should invest more money in helping people in impoverished and barren areas to improve the quality of their water," Sheng said.

(China Daily 03/22/2001)