BEIJING - The Chinese government invests big in water pollution control, pushing to commercialize most technologies, a top environment regulator said Tuesday.

Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian said at a national work meeting that the government will mainly finance research and development by 2015 on technologies for alleviating burdens on waters and treating pollution, protecting drinking water, and building environment monitoring and early-warning systems in watersheds.

While giving no details on the government investment amount, Zhou encouraged government-sponsored laboratories, universities, research institutes, state-owned companies and the private sector to collaborate for innovation in water pollution control technologies.

The total output value of China's environment industry in 2010 was at about 880 billion yuan ($139.7 billion).

China has launched a nationwide project on water pollution control since 2007 against the backdrop of continuous deterioration of national waters.