The officials were addressing the final day of a two-day international forum held in Beijing.

Zhai Haohui, vice-minister of water resources, said China ensured a sufficient supply of water to 24.23 million more people over the past three years with investment of 10.8 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion).

The achievement means that 250 million people have thus benefited since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, according to Zhai.

However, China's per capita water resources are still among the world’s lowest and over 20 million people in comparatively poorer areas in central and western China still lack a sufficient water supply. Another 300 million have to use water that has not been treated properly, putting their health at great risk.

The government will continue to provide financial and technical support for the construction of small-scale water-supply facilities, which can greatly improve the lives of such people in the short term, but Zhai appealed for the rest of society to get more actively involved in the cause.

"One small kind offer can change the life of a family," said Zhai. He cited a welfare project operated by the China Women's Development Foundation that uses charitable donations to help poverty-stricken families in thirsty western and central China to build their own tiny yet efficient water-supply facilities.

The project has invested 98 million yuan (US$11.8 million) in building around 80,000 wells for collecting rainwater and about 1,000 water-supply facilities during its two years of operation.

(China Daily February 26, 2003)