Residents of Quzhou in East China's Zhejiang province express satisfaction with the city's natural environment. [Photo/qz96811.com]

Residents of Quzhou in East China's Zhejiang province have been expressing increased satisfaction with the city's natural environment in recent years, according to a recent survey by the provincial department of ecology and environment.

The survey showed that Quzhou scored a total of 87.74 points in terms of the satisfaction of its local residents with the natural environment, 0.89 points higher than last year and the second highest among cities in Zhejiang.

Quzhou has rolled out a series of measures over the past year to prevent and manage the pollution of water, air and soil.

Last year, the city restored three contaminated sites, urged 155 local companies to properly treat their solid waste, and established four centralized disposal facilities for industrial solid waste, increasing its disposal capacity to 30,000 tons per year for hazardous waste and 210,000 tons per year for general solid waste.

Local authorities have also cracked down on the illegal dumping of hazardous waste and hazardous by-products. In 2019, 76 such cases had been handled and fines were issued worth a total of 6.23 million yuan ($894,000).

In the past year, 19 rivers under the control of the municipal government met the requirements for safe drinking water, a breakthrough for Quzhou. Furthermore, the drinking water in all seven of the city's counties and districts met city standards.

The city's rate of good air days exceeded 93 percent, and the average concentration of PM 2.5 was 33 micrograms per cubic meter in 2019.

The PM 2.5 concentration for excellent air quality ranges from zero to 35 micrograms per cubic meter in China.