China has launched almost 8,000 water clean-up projects in the first half of 2017, with a projected total investment of 667.4 billion yuan (£78bn), according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).

The MEP announced in a statement that the projects were devised as part of a 2015 action plan to treat and prevent water pollution, and cover 325 contaminated groundwater sites across the country. 343 contaminated sites had been identified, meaning 95% had drawn up plans to get water quality up to the required standards.

The MEP also noted that when it came to meeting their 2017 water pollution goals, some regions were still behind schedule, and that while overall water quality had improved in the first half of 2017, some regions registered an increase in substandard samples over the period.

Poorly regulated industrial expansion, uncontrolled use of fertilisers and pesticides, as well as overmining has rendered large amounts of China’s water unusable. China pledged in 2015 to make considerable improvements to major waterways and curb untreated wastewater from highly polluting sectors like mining, oil refining, steelmaking, textiles and printing.

China grades its water into six bands. The lowest, “below grade 5”, is considered unusable even for industrial or irrigation purposes, and is described as “black and stinky” water. Of 2,100 of these “black and stinky” sites identified, 44.1% had completed treatment projects in the first half of the year, with the ministry noting that the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui and Liaoning had fallen behind.

200,000 “river chiefs” have been appointed through the country to make local officials more accountable for curbing pollution. 636,000km² (246,000m²) of land would be made off limits to animal husbandry and 213,000 livestock and poultry farms have been closed in the first six months, in a bid to protect rural water supplies.