practices Jiang Puning section. Photo courtesy of the Puning Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department
This year marks the seventh anniversary of the comprehensive implementation of the river and lake chief system in Guangdong. Over the past seven years, Guangdong has used the river and lake long system as a starting point to launch a tough battle to prevent and control water pollution in southern Guangdong, making green a distinctive background for Guangdong's high-quality development.
River pollution prevention and control is a recognized problem. Many years ago, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference publicly stated that water pollution control is much more difficult than other types of pollution control. More importantly, in the minds of many people, pollution is a companion to economic development, and balancing pollution control with development is almost a difficult problem to solve.
No matter how difficult the problem is, it must be solved because a good ecological environment is an intrinsic requirement for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation.
In 2015, the State Council issued the "Water Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan", which regarded water environment protection as a rigid constraint for development. On November 28, 2016, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Comprehensive Implementation of the River Chief System", requiring all localities to fully establish the river chief system by the end of 2018. Guangdong seized this historic opportunity and The establishment of the river chief system was completed at the end of 2017, one year ahead of schedule as required by the central government.
Although the system has been established, many people at that time were still very confused about the prospects of pollution control.
On the one hand, the water pollution situation in Guangdong was very serious at that time. In the 1980s and 1990s, riding on the momentum of reform and opening up, Guangdong's economy developed rapidly and its urban population increased dramatically. During this period, many rivers and lakes unknowingly turned black and smelly. Take Lianjiang, the "Mother River" in the eyes of Chaoshan people, as an example. Despite the continuous efforts of the government and the people to manage it, it has still experienced a 20-year "black history". The local people once believed that "there is no way to cure it" and "nothing can be done" "Necessary control"...
On the other hand, although the general framework for water pollution control has been established, there is no clear path for how to implement it specifically across the country. Not only are they worried about investing too much in pollution control, but they are also worried that even if they invest a lot, the results will still be poor and they will not be able to explain it to the people. This is a common mentality among local governments.
So far, Guangdong has fully implemented the river and lake chief system for seven years. People discovered that the black and smelly water bodies in Guangdong have undergone butterfly changes in seven years.
media reported that in 2020, Lianjiang achieved a major transitional change from widespread black odor to the elimination of sections inferior to Category V in the national examination, and then upgraded to Category IV, completing the pollution control targets and tasks assigned by the country and the province. In June 2021, Lianjiang was rated as one of the "Top Ten Beautiful Rivers and Lakes in Guangdong Province in 2021" by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment. Not only Lianjiang, Guangzhou Chebeiyong, Dongguan Huayang Lake, Huizhou Shahe, Tamsui River... Guangdong has successively cracked the "hard bones" in water pollution control. Data show that from January to November 2023, the water quality rate of 270 provincial-level surface water sections in the province was 90.7% (categories I-III), and the proportion of sections inferior to category V was 0%.
Facts have proved that relying on the river and lake chief system as a starting point, Guangdong fully integrates resources, creates a full-coverage grassroots water control assessment mechanism, and comprehensively builds a grassroots water control responsibility system, which is the key to the success of water control.
Guangdong’s experience shows that water control is inseparable from scientific planning and coordination. As the boundary river between Shenzhen and Dongguan, the Maozhou River once fell into the embarrassment of "controlling pollution here". Under the overall guidance of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government, Dongguan and Shenzhen have established a linkage and coordination mechanism. The Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee Secretary and the Dongguan Municipal Party Committee Secretary both assume the responsibility of "municipal river chiefs" to achieve river chief governance and high-level promotion. Below the municipal river chief, there are also district, sub-district and community river chiefs who are responsible for the management of the Maozhou River and implement it item by item, so that "the river is managed and the responsibilities are shouldered." In the end, Maozhou River achieved a magnificent turn.
Guangdong’s experience also shows that to control floods, we must dig deep into the source. Water bodies are polluted, and most of the time the source of pollution is on the shore. For a long time, the extensive and disorderly development of highly polluting and energy-consuming industries has made water pollution control difficult. To solve the problem of balancing development and environmental protection, technological transformation and industrial upgrading must be persisted no matter how difficult it is.
Guangdong's flood control has achieved results and has been warmly welcomed by the public. Because a good ecological environment can be called the fairest public product, and returning green mountains and green waters to the people is the most universal welfare for people's livelihood.
