The update by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection said that overall pollution problems were serious last year and reporting on the update, the state-controlled newspaper China Daily said there has been a " marked deterioration in China's air, water and land quality" .

The 2012 Environmental Conditions Report addressed water and air pollution, the two types of pollution that have received the most attention over recent months. The report found that 57.3% of the groundwater in 198 cities in 2012 was " bad" or " extremely bad" , while more than 30% of the country's major rivers were " polluted" or " seriously polluted" .

According to the ministry's report, the air in only 27 out of 113 key cities reached air quality standards last year. China Daily said that at the beginning on last year, more than 1 million square kilometres were covered in heavy smog, affecting hundreds of millions of people.

The problem went on to get worse earlier this year as air pollution reached what is thought to have been record levels. Zhou Rong, Greenpeace East-Asia Climate and Energy campaigner based in Beijing said that air pollution was particularly bad in January of this year and that it has gotten a lot of attention. " Air quality is seen by everyone so I think it is is the most open topic, everyone can talk about it," she said.

Ironically, the theme set by the Ministry of Environmental Protection for World Environment Day this week was Breathing and Working Together. But with air pollution in Beijing levels reaching " very unhealthy" levels on the same day, the city's residents weren't doing much breathing out of doors.

 

P.S. This is the latest news, not an outdated one repost here.

Hope China Env can save the day, anyone's day