An aerial photo taken on July 24, 2025 shows a turning of the Yellow River in the border area between Shilou County of north China's Shanxi Province and Qingjian County of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Zhan Yan)

ZHENGZHOU, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- For the third successive year, the water quality in the main stream of China's Yellow River has reached a level clean enough to be drinkable after conventional treatment, marking a significant environmental milestone for the nation's second-longest river.

According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the water quality of the Yellow River's main stream has remained stable at Grade II in the country's five-tier water quality system for three consecutive years since it first met this standard in 2022. A rating of Grade II is considered good.

Data shows that the proportion of water in the entire Yellow River basin with fairly good surface water quality, at or above Grade III, has increased from 66.4 percent in 2018 to over 90 percent currently. Furthermore, this high standard has been maintained for two straight years since 2023.

Additionally, the share of surface water below Grade V, the lowest level, has dropped from 12.4 percent to zero.

"Water quality in the Yellow River continues to improve. From January to August this year, the main stream has consistently maintained Grade II water quality," said Fan Zhihui, director of the ecological and environmental supervision and administration bureau of the Yellow River Basin.

This represents a major phased achievement since ecological conservation and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin were elevated to a national strategy -- marking a new stage of normalized and stable improvement in the river's water quality, local authorities said.

The Yellow River, known as China's "Mother River," serves as a critical drinking water source for residents in over 50 medium and large cities and more than 400 counties within its basin. From the 1990s to the early 2000s, however, the river suffered severe pollution, with nearly 70 percent of urban drinking water sources along its main stream failing to meet safety standards.

"Today, this situation has been completely reversed," said Wang Ruiling, an official with the bureau. "The Yellow River now consistently provides a stable and high-quality drinking water source for cities across its basin."

In recent years, China has established a comprehensive framework for the protection and governance of the Yellow River. All provincial-level authorities along the river have joined efforts to implement extensive conservation measures, coordinate large-scale management initiatives, and launch campaigns to address key challenges.

Authorities have established a coordinated supervision and management mechanism -- conducting joint law enforcement operations in areas with water quality fluctuations. This initiative has driven progress in resolving numerous critical ecological and environmental issues across the basin.

In 2024 alone, five major joint operations were carried out in key zones of the watershed, securing the hard-won achievement of maintaining Grade II water quality standards in the river's main course.

Notably, improvement in the Yellow River's water quality has driven ecological changes along its course. In the early 2000s, about one-third of its native aquatic species had disappeared, while today benthic organisms have increased from 38 to over 130 species.

Meanwhile, since 2012, the nine provincial-level regions along the Yellow River have achieved a 126-percent increase in their combined GDP.

Key environmental indicators have also shown remarkable improvements in this region -- water consumption per 10,000 yuan (about 1,406.77 U.S. dollars) of GDP has dropped by 55 percent, energy intensity is down by 44 percent, carbon emissions have been cut by 43 percent, and ammonia nitrogen emissions have been slashed by a remarkable 84.6 percent.

"The clearer and cleaner water of the Yellow River now acts like a mirror -- reflecting the basin's transition toward a green, low-carbon and sustainable high-quality development model," Fan said.

An aerial drone photo taken on July 4, 2025 shows a view of the Sanmenxia Reservoir on the Yellow River in central China's Henan Province. (Photo by Du Jie/Xinhua)