SHANGHAI, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government will spend more than 3 trillion yuan (489.3 billion U.S. dollars) to enhance air and water pollution prevention and treatment, environmental officials told an environmental protection industry forum on Sunday.

An airborne pollution prevention and control action plan, which will be released soon, will be backed by 1.7 trillion yuan in investment from the central government, according to Wang Tao, an official with the pollution prevention department under the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).

Wang added that an estimated 2 trillion yuan will be put in to enhance monitoring of drinking water sources and control poisonous contaminants as was required by a water pollution prevention and control action plan in formulation.

In addition, the MEP is drafting a national standard for surface water quality, according to Zhao Yingmin, director-general of the MEP's science, technology and standards department.

Zhao said the draft is expected to be released to consult public opinion within the year and be issued in 2014.

Following the country's increasing efforts in curbing pollution, the domestic environmental protection industry is booming.

The output value of the energy conservation and environmental protection industry during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015) is expected to exceed 10 trillion yuan, a more than 40 percent increase compared to the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010), according to Wang

In testimony to the U.S. Senate last week, the Council on Foreign Relations’ Asia director Elizabeth Economy said China is facing a water crisis with “profound implications” if the government doesn’t get a grip on it over the next few years.

According to China’s own water-resources officials, more than 400 Chinese cities lacked enough water last year, with 110 of those facing “serious scarcity.”

The key culprit is industry, which Economy said uses 4 to 10 times more water per unit of GDP than similar economies and is polluting the nation’s existing water resources at an alarming rate. She cited a February 2013 report by the Geological Survey of China saying a full 90% of the country’s groundwater was polluted, while the Ministry of Environmental Protection said the water from about 25% of China’s major river systems was so filthy that it couldn’t be even used for industry or agriculture.

Tap water is mostly undrinkable, and those who do drink it run major health risks. And the contamination is making it into the food system, resulting in cadmium-tainted rice among other threats, she said.

It’s not like the government isn’t aware of the problem, but solutions such as raising the price of water have moved ahead at a snail’s pace. And “of the 1.3% of GDP that Beijing currently spends on environmental protection … half finds its way into other local priorities such as infrastructure development,” Economy told U.S. lawmakers.

The result of all this may be a health crisis in China, and outright conflict with its neighbors. China controls the headwaters of many of Asia’s most important rivers, such as the Irtyush, Mekong, and Brahmaputra, and these “are raising regional tensions as China develops plans upstream that may have dramatic impacts on the lower reaches,” she said.