SHENZHEN Municipal Government will set aside 6 billion yuan (US$981 million) in the coming few years to make the city’s tap water drinkable in more households, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.

    At present, tap water in 50 of the city’s residential complexes is drinkable without being boiled.

    The city has been implementing a standard for tap water that is stricter than the national level and water supplies from the city’s water plants are 100 percent qualified, according to Shenzhen Water Group.

    Cai Qian, vice director of the city’s water quality supervision station, said that the station is monitoring water quality throughout the whole process of water supply and the city’s drinking water quality ranks at the top compared to other places in the country.

    Shenzhen Water Group said that the source of the city’s tap water is deemed potable, but may be contaminated by old water pipes that have become rusty. The city will spend 1.85 billion yuan in the next three to five years to replace old water pipes to make potable water available to 600 residential complexes in five years.

    The city currently has two deep-processing water plants in Meilin and Bijia Hill in Futian District to process drinking water.

    The water group has also opened a public WeChat account to accept water bill payments with residents who live in Nanshan, Futian, Luohu and Yantian districts.

    (Anna Zhao)