Boosting Protection and Management of Water Resources

In recent years, many longstanding environmental issues associated with rivers and lakes have been solved and growing numbers of rivers and river basins have been revitalized. With the implementation of the Mother River Restoration Campaign, a number of rivers such as Yongding, Chaobai, and Hutuo have had their water flow restored along their entire courses, all sections of the Grand Canal between Beijing and Hangzhou have been made navigable for the first time in a century, the ecological water regime rating of Lake Baiyangdian has reached 100%, and most rivers and lakes in north China now have sufficient and clean water.

On the new journey ahead, we must uphold and act on the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. Beginning with river basins, we will take a holistic and systematic approach to the conservation and improvement of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, grasslands, and deserts, and coordinate planning of upstream and downstream areas, left and right banks, and mainstream and tributaries. We will promote the continuous recovery of river and lake ecosystems and ensure they remain healthy.

We will thoroughly implement the Mother River Restoration Campaign, improve the standard of ecological protection of rivers and lakes, and comprehensively carry out river and lake health assessments. We will continue water charging along the Grand Canal, conduct targeted and regular water charging of rivers and lakes in north China during the summer months, continue to regulate the environment of the Xiliao River Basin and gradually restore the river's flow along its entire course.

We will boost protection and management of rivers and lakes, strengthen the ecological protection and restoration of major rivers and lakes, and promote the “river and lake chief plus” departmental cooperation mechanism. We will strictly control shorelines, adopt tough measures to rectify the encroachment and damage of rivers and lakes, and continue to adopt comprehensive measures to improve rural water systems.

We will comprehensively address the over-extraction of groundwater by coordinating conservation, control, replacement, recharge, and management measures, and consolidate and expand the control of groundwater over-extraction in north China. We will also explore deep groundwater recharge mechanisms and boost comprehensive control of groundwater over-extraction in key areas.

We will make more efforts to curb soil erosion, step up management in areas with severe soil erosion, and accelerate the construction of warping dams and sediment storage dams in abundant and coarse sediment areas of the Loess Plateau, particularly areas with concentrations of coarse sediment sources. We will promote the management of hillside farmland and the construction of ecological and clean small watersheds, and quickly establish new supervision mechanisms for soil and water conservation.