Some 10 million more rural people in China will likely have adequate drinking water this year, thanks to continuous national efforts, said a senior official on Thursday.

"We'll focus on improving the quality of water including removing harmful contents such as fluoride and arsenic," said Vice-Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei at a national conference on water resources programming held in Hefei, capital of central China's Anhui Province.

According to the country's water shortage easing program, 10 million rural residents from arid areas are expected to have adequate water to drink this year.

Water shortages in most of the cities in north China are expected to be eliminated by 2010 when part of the project to divert water from the Yangtze River is completed, according to Chen.

The central government poured 35.6 billion yuan (US$4.3 billion) in water resources infrastructure construction in 2003, 11.2 percent over the previous year. The total investment was 74.8 billion yuan (US$9.05 billion), of which 14.52 billion yuan (US$1.76 billion) for rural water resources infrastructure construction.

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2004)