By Edward Wong

New York Times

BEIJING >> Chinese environmental officials are increasingly turning to naming and shaming cities that fail to bring down pollution levels.

The latest effort involves water pollution, which, like that of air and soil, has reached toxic levels across much of China.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection has said it plans to release rankings of cities by water quality. It already does this with air quality, which is how ordinary Chinese know that coal-burning cities in Hebei province, surrounding Beijing, are among the worst offenders when it comes to smog.

Chinese news organizations reported on the plans this week, after the ministry released a draft proposal last month. The ministry said in its announcement that it was seeking feedback on the proposal by Sunday.

“The authorities will set up monitoring points in different cities to take samples of water to monitor the quality of rivers and lakes in 338 prefecture-level cities in 31 provinces,” the ministry said, adding that municipal-level cities like Beijing, Chongqing and Tianjin and autonomous regions would also be included.

The system will use 21 metrics to test the levels of metals, harmful chemicals and other pollutants, the ministry said, and those will help determine a City Water Quality Index. Each month, it said, the 10 best and 10 worst cities will be announced.

“The city-ranking publication could put pressure on responsible city governments to take action to improve the water quality, and also introduce a sense of competition among cities as a kind of motivation,” said Ada Kong, who oversees the toxics campaign at Greenpeace East Asia, which is based in Beijing.

Kong said, though, that more information could be disclosed under the proposed plan. For example, the list does not have to be limited to the top 10 and bottom 10 cities, she said. The ministry could also release the 21 measurements for each city, she added.

Widespread environmental pollution is one of the issues of greatest concern to ordinary Chinese. The Communist Party has been forced to respond to a rising outcry over this, especially among middle-class urban residents. Premier Li Keqiang has said that China is committed to a “war on pollution,” and the government has enacted policies to limit coal burning in large population centers as well as declared a “red alert” in Beijing on several recent occasions to warn residents of intense smog days.

In February 2013, the Ministry of Environmental Protection released a ranking of 74 cities by air quality, the first time it had provided such a pollution listing. The rankings of average air quality readings showed that many of China’s cities were continuing to fail to meet government standards. In March 2014, the ministry’s release of numbers indicated that only three of the 74 cities had met standards in 2013.

Water and soil pollution have received less attention than foul air but are just as hazardous, if not more so.

Ma Jun, an environmental transparency advocate, said that monitoring water quality in cities was far more difficult than monitoring air quality. Officials can set up air monitors throughout a city to get average readings. With water, he said, officials will have to choose carefully which rivers and lakes around the cities to monitor and how to interpret the readings to make general statements about pollution levels.

© 2016 The New York Times Company