The Chinese central government is pressing ahead with more means to tackle pollution levels, focusing further on being more open in relaying relevant information, according to a guideline issued recently on this year’s government transparency work.

The State Council guideline said that press conferences on environmental protection will be held regularly, and rankings of cities by water quality will be released in 2017.

Much like air pollution, water pollution in China has reached worrying levels in some cities.

The country’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MOEP) is already carrying out assessment of the quality of urban environment, such as classifying cities according to their water and air quality. However, data related to water quality have never been disclosed to the public, which exerts no direct pressure on local governments, said Peng Yingdeng, a researcher at the National Engineering Research Center of Urban Environmental Pollution Control.

“Naming and shaming cities publicly could put pressure on responsible city governments to take action and improve the water quality. It could also introduce a sense of competition among cities as a form of motivation,” noted Peng.

A list of Chinese cities ranked based on smog occurrences and quality of air is now published and regularly updated. It has given incentives to local governments that move up the ladder to keep pushing for clearer skies, and those who slip behind to up their efforts.

Water pollution has not been in the public eye as much as air pollution, especially that the deterioration of the latter is visually traceable through a thick blanket of smog falling on cities and hiding the sun.

“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 MOEP said, adding that municipal-level cities like Beijing, Chongqing and Tianjin and autonomous regions would also be included.