• Air pollution is getting worse in China.

Air pollution is getting worse in China. (Photo : Getty Images)

In an effort to decrease air pollution in China, the environmental protection agency will be inspecting barbecue restaurants and construction sites.

The local government of the Hebei Province has also imposed a car plate coding scheme where certain plate numbers are not allowed on the road on certain days.

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China's Ministry of Environmental Protection reported that last month's air pollution was worse compared to the same time last year. The alarming rise is prompting the government to act fast.

Analysts are confident that the government's efforts and its aggressive campaign to protect the environment will pay off.

"I am confident China will take a lead role," said Erik Solheim, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program.

Aside from the worsening air quality in China, the government is looking into the country's water quality.

We still have a lot of work to do," Vice Minister Zhao Yingmin said at a press briefing.

He added, "First, I'd say the point of inspections is to discover problems, and indeed we discovered in some places water quality has gotten significantly worse."

Much of China's water supply is harmful to human contact. Water pollution is caused by contamination due to fertilizer run-offs, heavy metals, and untreated sewage.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said, "With air, you stop pollution at the source, and the blue skies come back instantly."

"For water, you can stop pollution at the source, but you still have the polluted sediment and the soil that is going to leech into the water, and it's going to take much longer," he said.

The ministry also added that Ammonia and phosphate concentrations in one reservoir in rural Guangxi in the southwest doubled last year as a result of pollution from farming and fishing.