THE number of polluted and foul-smelling rivers has declined sharply this year as a result of the city government launching a campaign to clean up its rivers by the end of next year.

The percentage of local heavily polluted rivers — those rated grade 5 — has been cut by 22 percentage points from a year ago to 35 percent by October, said Liu Xiaotao, deputy director of Shanghai Water Authority.

“Most of them are near urban-rural areas, outskirt towns, industrial sites and livestock farms, which will become the main target of the citywide water cleaning campaign,” Liu told local legislators.