A family in Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region celebrates Tibetan New Year at home, on Feb 24, 2020. [Photo by Tentsen Shinden /for chinadaily.com.cn]

The Tibet autonomous region has been making safe drinking water in rural areas a priority as it strives to improve the lives of rural residents. More than 1.9 billion yuan ($278 million) was spent last year on various projects to develop safe drinking water, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Thanks to the region's heavy spending on such projects, 2,691 sites were either renovated or upgraded over the year, with more than 490,000 rural residents benefiting, according to the region's water conservancy department.

Safe drinking water is considered a bottom line issue and a top priority in the war on poverty over the last few years.

Tibet met the drinking water goal of its Five-Year Plan (2016-20) a year early. More than 99 percent of rural residents now have accesses to safe drinking water.

Thanks to the projects, the old habits of people and livestock sharing a water source have been changing. The risk of death by disease has been reduced, and tap water inside people's homes saves time for residents.

The department said the region plans to strengthen its protection of water sources and improve its management practices to achieve higher water quality by the end of this year. The region expects more than 80 percent of its rural residents to have safe tap water for drinking and culinary use, with more than 92 percent of rural residents having access to a centralized water supply.