BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Beijing Wednesday launched a survey of polluters, to serve the environmental protection drive, implementing a national plan to carry out the second census of pollution sources.

The survey, which targets the data from 2017, will help set up a database of key polluters, including their number and distribution in the industrial, agricultural, and residential sectors as well as the discharge and treatment of pollutants.

Ten years after its first national census of pollution sources, China aims to finish the country's second survey this year and release the results in 2019.

The survey results will serve to strengthen monitoring of polluters and improve environmental quality.

A comprehensive and exact survey of pollution data will lay a foundation for winning the tough battle in pollution control, said Yang Bin, vice mayor of Beijing.

Several other provinces and regions, such as Inner Mongolia and Jiangxi, have also started their own pollution census.