College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Environ Sci Technol. 2023 Apr 25;57(16):6465-6473. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c09344. Epub 2023 Apr 11.
Access to safe drinking water is a major public concern in China. A national survey of 57 029 households was conducted to fill major knowledge gaps on drinking water sources, end-of-use treatment methods, and energy used to boil water. Herein, we show that surface water and well water were frequently used by >147 million rural residents living in low-income inland and mountainous areas. Driven by socioeconomic development and government intervention, the level of access to tap water in rural China increased to 70% by 2017. Nevertheless, the rate was considerably lower than that in cities and unevenly distributed across the country. Approximately 90% of drinking water was boiled, an increase from 85% a decade ago. The contribution of electricity, mainly electric kettles, to the boiling of water was 69%. Similar to cooking, living conditions and heating requirements are the main influencing indicators of energy used to boil water. In addition to socioeconomic development, government intervention is a key factor driving the transition to safe water sources, universal access to tap water, and clean energy. Further improvement in drinking water safety in poor and remote rural areas remains challenging, and more intervention and more investment are needed.
在中国，安全饮用水的获取是公众主要关注的问题之一。为了填补饮用水源、末端处理方法以及煮沸水所使用能源方面的主要知识空白，对 57029 户家庭进行了一项全国性调查。在此，我们表明，地表水和井水被居住在内陆和山区低收入地区的超过 1.47 亿农村居民频繁使用。受社会经济发展和政府干预的驱动，到 2017 年，中国农村地区自来水的普及率提高到了 70%。然而，这一比例明显低于城市，且在全国的分布不均衡。大约 90%的饮用水是煮沸的，比十年前的 85%有所增加。电力（主要是电热水壶）在烧水方面的贡献为 69%。与烹饪类似，生活条件和取暖需求是影响烧水所使用能源的主要指标。除了社会经济发展，政府干预是推动向安全水源、普遍获得自来水和清洁能源过渡的关键因素。在贫困和偏远的农村地区进一步改善饮用水安全仍然具有挑战性，需要更多的干预和投资。
