The water quality of about 60 percent of groundwater monitoring stations nationwide was bad in 2013 and the quality level has been falling since 2011, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources, Beijing Times reported on Wednesday.

There are 4,778 monitoring stations in 203 prefecture-level administrative regions across the country, ministry statistics show.

The water quality at 2,095 stations, comprising 43.9 percent of the total, was "poor", while the quality at another 750 stations was "extremely poor", accounting for 15.7 percent.

Components that exceeded the limits included iron, manganese and sulfates. Some stations reported excessive levels of heavy metals, such as lead.

In 2011, about 45 percent of monitoring stations reported good groundwater quality, but the proportion fell to 42.7 percent and 40.4 percent in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

The proportion of monitoring stations reporting bad groundwater quality rose from 55 percent in 2011 to 57.4 percent in 2012.