(Yicai Global) Jan. 31 -- China has set up hundreds of monitoring stations all across the country to control pollution in a large-scale environmental campaign. All stations have the monitoring capability of six pollution indicators including PM2.5, atmospheric particulate matter.

China has set up 1,436 state-controlled monitoring stations in 338 prefecture-level cities, as well as larger urban settlements. The number of provincial, city and prefectural monitoring stations reach nearly 4,000, which means China has installed the largest environmental air quality monitoring network, said Liu Zhiquan, director of the department of environmental monitoring under the ministry of environmental protection, today.

In recent years, China's environmental protection departments have continuously improved the monitoring of environmental elements such as air, water and soil and expanded its scope, which has further enhanced the support capability and level of environmental protection campaign, Liu stressed. In addition to the air quality control measures, China has completed installation of acid rain and dust monitoring networks.

In terms of water quality monitoring, the national control section of surface water in China has been expanded from 972 during the 12th Five-Year Plan to the present 2,050, covering 1,366 rivers and 139 key lakes and reservoirs in the 10 major water areas. China now is able to detect the status and trends of water environment quality, successfully meeting the water quality assessment needs, Liu said. As for soil monitoring, it has also installed 38,800 national environment monitoring stations.