BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- China will provide clean drinking water to 58.67 million rural residents, including 7.04 million teachers and students, by the end of 2015 to achieve its target for 2011-2015.

"Safe drinking water in rural areas is a government priorities and we must achieve this goal," said Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei.

Li said the project would be supported by more government funding and favorable policies as well as a new financing mechanism that would encourage private capital.

The government will strengthen water quality control and step up supervision to resolve drinking water safety issues in rural areas, he added.

The target for the 2011-2015 period was to give 281.37 million rural residents access to safe drinking water. The 58.67 million rural residents is the last group of the target.