『Environmental standards are the scientific basis for national environmental management. Like many other countries, China manages its water quality based on ambient water quality standards. Current national aquatic environmental quality standards in China are nationally unified based on water quality and functions, including water quality, pollutant discharge, monitoring methods, and environmental sample standards. However, these standards were derived from and/or based on environmental quality standards or criteria of developed countries, and have no specific protection objectives (the same standards were used to protect both ecosystem and human health); therefore, they may not fit the regional eco-environment and the current needs of environmental management in China. For example, in the national water quality standard (GB3838-2006), water quality is divided into grades I-V, which refer to national nature reserves, key zones for protection of surface drinking water, surface drinking water sources, industrial/recreational water, and agricultural/landscape water, respectively. With rapid economic development, China has experienced a great number of environmental pollution incidents in recent years. To protect the eco-environment and human health in China, the government and scientists have realized the importance of establishing a more scientific water environmental quality standard system that is based on its own water quality criteria (WQC), and is concordant with its regional eco-environmental characteristics.
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