Progress in researches on rural drinking water hygiene in China: a review

Rural drinking water safety is a measure of the rural economic development and also one of the important marks for rural residents quality of life, which is closely linked to the immediate interests of the public. It is also a major issue of the people′s livelihood. Water is scarce in China, but at the same time, China is a country with serious water pollution. The seven major river basins, including the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Pearl River, the Songhuajiang River, the Huaihe River, the Haihe River and the Liaohe River, have different degrees of pollution. Pollution of rural drinking water is becoming increasingly serious due to a large amount of water sources, small scale of individual water sources, deficient awareness on water resource and environment protection among rural residents, and weakness of supervision and management on rural environmental problems and the safety of rural drinking water is still facing severe challenges. It is a long-term and arduous task to make overall plans and solve the problem of drinking water safety in rural areas in China. It is necessary to formulate water environmental protection policies according to economic development level and water pollution characteristics in different rural areas for fundamentally solving the problem of rural water pollution in China.