"In China, the water you drink is as dangerous as the air you breathe", 2 Jun 2017

Shanghai...its water pollution crisis continues unabated – 85% of the water in the city’s major rivers was undrinkable in 2015, according to official standards, and 56.4% was unfit for any purpose...One reason for this is that local governments have too often failed to crack down on polluting industries...The nationwide standards for the treatment of sewage are also far from sufficient. Despite some improvements in recent years, wastewater, water which has been used in the home, in a business or as part of an industrial process and may now contain hazardous materials, remains a major pollution source, particularly in urban centres...

...[T]o address water pollution .First, water pollution data must be made publicly available so that local governments can be held to account...Second, it is imperative that province-level governments set ambitious water quality targets and that 100% of these governments meet their targets. If they don’t, it should be a black mark for officials in line for a promotion...Companies that are found to violate dumping laws should be subject to legal penalties - such as fines - that are actually enforced...