China's environmental quality communiqué of 2003 released Thursday said that China maintained its environmental quality nationwide basically at the level of the previous year.

The communiqué, released by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), covered the country's environmental quality in aspects of urban air, major river basins, acid rain, offshore areas and urban acoustic environment in 2003.

According to the communiqué, China saw improved urban air quality in 2003, with over 40 percent of cities recording air quality reaching the national air quality standard of Grade II, increasing 7.9 percentage points over that of the previous year.

But the communiqué said China's urban air pollution remains a serious issue.

Urban noise pollution was basically under control in 2003, said the communiqué. Statistics show that more than half of the monitored cities and urban areas enjoyed reasonably good acoustic environment last year.

In addition, approximately 80 percent of the cities boasted relatively good road traffic acoustic environmental quality, said the communiqué. However it said noise pollution remained one of the environmental problems strongly felt by urban residents.

The communiqué said, in 2003, the country's water quality in major river basins stayed at the level of the previous year. The pollution of the Haihe, Liaohe, and Huaihe River slightly decreased while the Songhua River, Pearl River experienced an increase of pollution.

According to the communiqué, water quality in the offshore areas of the Bohai and East China Sea slightly improved while pollution remains serious. The water quality offshore of the South China Sea still stayed at the level of the previous year.

In 2003, acid rain-affected zones remained stable on the whole, while pollution in some areas of Hunan, Zhejiang and Jiangxi further worsened, said the communiqué.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2004)