Real-time information about water quality from China’s major rivers and lakes is now available online. The Ministry of Environmental Protection is publishing the results of tests on surface water quality at 100 locations, with the information updated every four hours, reported China Daily.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said publishing real-time monitoring results was “a step forward” for environmental information disclosure in China. Five indicators — the pH level, dissolved oxygen, total organic carbon, chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen — are being used to gauge the water quality of China’s seven major rivers and three lakes, along with tributaries in the southeast and southwest.