China has made substantial strides in protecting the water ecology of key river basins, with national water-quality continuing to improve in the first half of this year, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) on Friday.

The proportion of surface-water bodies nationwide classified as having excellent water quality reached 89.4 percent in 2023, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous year, MEE official Huang Xiaozeng told a press conference.

This figure surpasses the target set in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) by 4.4 percentage points, Huang noted.

Using the Yangtze River as an example, Huang reported that 98.5 percent of monitoring sites in the basin achieved excellent water quality in 2023, up 0.4 percentage points year on year.

Additionally, the number of indigenous fish species recorded in the Yangtze River Basin increased to 227, up by 34 species from 2022. The number of nationally protected aquatic wildlife species rose to 14 in 2023, an increase of three compared to the previous year.

Huang also said that in June last year, the MEE, in collaboration with relevant departments, issued detailed assessment criteria for water ecology in the Yangtze River Basin. The first assessment under these criteria is scheduled for 2025.

Based on the pilot efforts in the Yangtze, China aims to refine its water-ecology monitoring and evaluation methods nationwide, establish and improve water-ecology standards, and support the evaluation system for building a beautiful China, Huang said.