Chinese authorities announced on Wednesday the country has exceeded its 2014 target for water pollution reduction.

The announcement contradicted earlier reports regarding planned clean up of rivers and lakes in the country. The said reports claimed an action plan valued US$326 billion has been projected to solve the pollution problem, reported Reuters.

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China has been experiencing a dire water crisis, after lack of environmental supervision during years of economic development made rivers and lakes in the country 70% toxic. More than half of the groundwater was contaminated.

But the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced through its website on Wednesday that ammonia nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand has decreased during the first six months period of this year, by 2.7% and 2.3% respectively. These two are key measures of water pollution.

Chinese authorities have set the target to reduce water pollution by 2% this year, according to a report from Reuters. The recorded percentage for the last six months is at its modest rate.

Hong Kong-based China Water Risk director Debra Tan said the strict implementation of waste-water discharge standards would lead to more water pollutant reduction. However, the news on the new water pollution reduction system caused problems for sectors contributing much waste as they are already fighting the slow economic demands.

This would mean that smaller factories could face hurdles in following the new regulations as there is no cheap way to clean up water. The new regulation would take effect for the textile industry by next year.

An action plan valued 2 trillion yuan is being prepared by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, according to a report from the China Securities Journal. This would include cleaning extremely polluted waste water that is no longer suitable even for industrial use.

TagsMinistry of Environmental Protection, Reuters, China Water Risk, Debra Tan, China Securities Journal