Days with excellent air quality across China accounts for 85.5 percent in 2023: report

In 2023, the percentage of days with excellent air quality across China was reported at 85.5 percent, 0.6 percentage points above the annual target. Levels of radiation around key nuclear facilities were also generally good, according to a report released by China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) on Wednesday.

Last year, the proportion of excellent air quality days accounts for 85.5 percent, increasing to 86.8 percent after excluding days with abnormal sand and dust levels, exceeding the annual target by 0.6 percentage points, according to the report.

In key areas for air pollution control, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Fenwei Plain witnessed the average PM2.5 concentration in 2023 decrease by 2.3 percent and 6.5 percent respectively compared to the previous year, according to the report.

The quality of surface water environment in China continues to improve. The proportion of excellent and good (Class I-III) water quality stood at 89.4 percent, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous year, the report noted.

China has a five-tier system to classify water quality, Class I-III reflects good quality.

The proportion of poor (Class V) water quality remains at 0.7 percent, unchanged from the previous year. Significant improvements in water quality have been observed in key river basins, with the Yangtze and Yellow rivers maintaining Class II water quality throughout, and the Haihe River basin improving from being classified as slightly polluted to being listed as good quality.

Water quality in key lakes, reservoirs, and drinking water sources continues to improve, while overall groundwater quality remains stable nationwide.

The overall water quality of the national jurisdictional sea waters remained largely unchanged. The area of Class I sea water quality accounted for 97.9 percent of the jurisdictional waters, an increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous year.

The overall risk of soil environment in the country has been effectively managed, with a spike in reports of soil pollution being initially curbed. The overall condition of soil environment in agricultural land is stable, with a safe utilization rate reaching over 91 percent of the farmland that used to be polluted, according to the report.

The report noted that overall situation of nuclear and radiation safety in the country is stable within a safe target range. The quality of radiation environment and the overall condition of radiation environment around key nuclear facilities are generally good.