A study conducted on more than 2,100 of China’s rural wells or river basins found that 80 percent of China’s water is unsafe for human use and consumption.

Last year, China’s Ministry of Water Resources organized the study that involved checking the safety levels of different wells in water basins found in China’s north-east area, specifically the Yangtze, Yellow, Huai and Hai rivers, according to the South China Morning Post. They found that about 80 percent of all waters are not fit for drinking.

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Of all samples tested, the ministry found that nearly half (47.3 percent) of all waters are considered ‘Grade V,’ or not safe for human consumption of any kind, while a meager 32.9 percent is of ‘Grade IV’ quality, which means it is only useable for agricultural purposes. None have been found to be of excellent or pristine quality.

The statistical data can be accessed in the Ministry’s report released last week.

The report has since raised concerns about the country’s drinking water in general. Despite the staggering amount of water deemed unsafe for drinking, the ministry stated that the water being supplied to urban areas for use is safe for drinking.

The Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the results are only relevant to the rural north-east area, a region known to have “comparatively acute water problems.”

In China’s urban areas, on the other hand, drinking water comes from treated reservoirs of aquifers that are considered to have water of good quality, with 85 percent of them passing national water quality standards.

“The quality of drinking water is good overall,” said the director of the ministry’s Department of Water Resources, Chen Mingzhong.

This finding comes after the issue on China’s air pollution, which has affected millions of lives in China, and has raised concerns among environmentalist groups like Greenpeace.

“Water pollution in China is every bit as serious an issue as air pollution,” Ada Kong, Greenpeace east Asia toxics campaign manager, said.

Tagswater, Ministry of Water Resources, Ada Kong, Chen Mingzhong