Two booming cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province warned of unqualified drinking water sources, which failed to meet national standards in this regard.

Ammonia nitrogen, Fecal coliforms, biochemical oxygen demand, and total nitrogen were cited as major pollution indices for the drinking water sources in the two cities, according to a report issued Monday on the environmental situation in Guangdong last year and in the period of the 10th Five-Year Guidelines (2000-2005).

The quality of all drinking water sources in 19 other cities of the province met the national standards last year, said the report,published by the Guangdong Provincial Environment Protection Bureau.

Guangdong has altogether 66 drinking water sources, covering all of its 21 cities, said Chen Guangrong, deputy director of the bureau.

In general, 87.5 percent of the drinking water sources in the province met national standards last year in terms of water quality, Chen said.

"It indicated 19.7 percentage points higher than that of 2004 and the overall situation is positive," Chen said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2006)