Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region outnumbers all other regions nationwide in water quality in the first quarter of this year, taking up nine spots in a list of the top 30 cities released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on May 7.

It is the first time that the top environmental watchdog published such a ranking, which will from now be published every three months, along with one measuring air quality. This ranking is aimed at pressuring regional governments to intensify their efforts in water protection via media exposure and public supervision.

Water in Guilin's Yangshuo county mirrors the surrounding mountains. [Photo/news.cn]

Of the 1,940 monitored sections, 74.3 percent were found to have fairly good water quality at or above Grade III, a year-on-year increase of 8 percentage points. Six percent of sections were found to have water below Grade V, the lowest in the domestic five-tier water quality system, down 3.6 percentage points. Major pollutants were ammonia nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chemical oxygen demand.

Cities with the best water quality in the country were Sichuan's Ya'an, Guangxi's Laibin, and Guangdong's Yunfu. The other eight Guangxi cities that made it onto the top 30 list were Wuzhou, Liuzhou, Chongzuo, Hechi, Guilin, Baise, Hezhou, and Guigang.

Visitors admire the crystal clean water of the Lijiang River. [Photo/news.cn]