Whether we can have clean drinking water lies in what effective measures will be taken by the government about water pollution.
【翻译】我们能否拥有清洁的饮用水取决于政府将采取什么样的有效措施来解决水污染问题。
what effective measures will be taken by the government about water pollution. ——这是 what 作为限定词引导的名词性从句,作 in 的宾语。
其中,what effective measures 跟 what time 都是一样的结构,what 限定作用而且带有疑问含义,意为“什么样的;什么的”。
我举一个类似的例子:How much you know depends on what books you read. 你知识的多少在于你读什么样的书。