People in air-filtering masks gather on Shanghai's waterfront on Dec 26, a particularly hazy day. Eight cities were punished in December for air pollution. Aly Song / Reuters

The part about individual duties involves cutting personal emissions, joining in and supervising ambient atmospheric protection, Chai said.

Another highlight of the draft is the introduction of a chapter on emergency management in response to severe pollution days, he said.

After the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, which is the most important environmental document of 2013 as it vowed to bring "visible changes" to air quality by the end of 2017, two similar action plans targeting water pollution and soil pollution will be released in 2014.

The Clean Water Action Plan will be submitted to the State Council for examination and approval after a last round of discussion within the ministry, Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian said at the 2014 national environmental conference on Thursday.

"The water plan features protection of drinking water sources, and wiping out all waters from the most polluted list," he said.

Meanwhile, the Soil Protection and Pollution Control Action Plan has three major targets - adjusting crop planting on the most polluted farmland, remediation of contaminated land and setting up demonstration sites for soil pollution prevention and control.

wuwencong@chinadaily.com.cn