Since the beginning of this year, Huai'an City has prioritized rural drinking water safety as a key public welfare initiative, implementing comprehensive planning and integrated measures to improve water supply quality and services through issue rectification, infrastructure development, and institutional improvements.

First, Huai'an adheres to the targeted problem-solving approach when addressing the urgent, difficult, and anxious public concerns.  The city has conducted in-depth investigations and rectifications focusing on prominent public concerns and key areas, comprehensively evaluated county-level rural water supply models, operational services, and project management across the city, and identified 21 problems around three aspects: unified management, unified operation and maintenance, and unified service of rural water supply. Among these problems, 9 have been rectified, and rectification plans have been established for all the remaining problems with defined timelines for completion.

Second, Huai'an has strengthened project construction to resolve the issues arising from insufficient water volume and water pressure.  In 2025, the city plans to invest RMB 780 million to implement five rural water supply security projects, build the third water plant in Lianshui, and continue the water plant construction in Xuyi. The plan involves upgrading and renovating 100 kilometers of water supply pipelines, aiming to improve water supply conditions in areas such as Hexi in Xuyi County and Hongyao Town in Lianshui County. As of mid-August, an investment of RMB 400 million has been completed, and 52 kilometers of new and renovated pipelines have been completed.

Third, Huai'an has improved its institutional system and made up for the shortcomings in operation, management, and maintenance. The city has completed integrated urban-rural water supply reforms in Jinhu County, achieving county-level unified management of rural water systems. County and district governments have been instructed to reinforce institutional mechanisms addressing weak links in rural water supply operation, management, and maintenance. Since the beginning of this year, 11 new water supply management and security systems have been established at county- and district-level across the city, with 3 existing systems revised. The city has systematically promoted the resolution of critical problems in rural water supply operation, management, and maintenance.