Two new documents for river and lake chiefs are released in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province on Sept 27. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Zhejiang's Shaoxing city released two regional documents to define the rights, responsibilities and obligations of river and lake chiefs in the city on Sept 27.

The Zhejiang provincial government has divided every river, lake and stream in the region into different sections, and assigned two to three chiefs to monitor each section, in order to make sure the water quality is improved and maintained.

Since it was officially launched in 2013, the system has facilitated the restoration of watercourses across the province.

Shaoxing, that has been exploring effective ways to standardize and strengthen the supervision over river and lake chiefs since last year, has now decided upon the nine major categories of responsibilities for them, including water pollution prevention, water resource protection and ecological restoration, as shown in the new documents.

The documents also regulate more detailed requirements for the chiefs' work and state that chiefs will be held accountable if there is a deterioration of the water environment.

"River and lake chiefs will understand what they should and shouldn't do after reading the documents and that they are not able to shirk responsibilities," said an official from Shaoxing's water treatment department. He also said that the new documents laid a solid foundation for the long-term effective operation of the river and lake chief system.

Shaoxing in East China's Zhejiang province holds a seminar on the river and lake chief system on Sept 27. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]