Officials to be tasked to look after rivers
Print Edition
CHINA will appoint local government heads as river chiefs across the nation to clean up and protect its water resources.
Much as mayors and county heads are responsible for their beats, river chiefs will be responsible for the management and protection of the watercourses, according to a document forwarded by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council.
The central government expects to turn such practice into a nationwide mechanism by the end of 2018, according to the document.
China first appointed local government officials as river chiefs in 2007.
The aim was to address pollution woes of a blue algae outbreak in Taihu Lake, Jiangsu Province.
The practice was later adopted in several regions rich in water resources to ensure strong enforcement of environmental policies and enhance coordination.
Government officials will be hired as river chiefs at provincial, city, county and township levels, and heads of provincial regions will be general chiefs that are responsible for all rivers and lakes in the region, said the document.
For large rivers and lakes that span across regions, river chiefs will be responsible for different parts of the water bodies and cooperate on management.
Responsibilities of the river chiefs include water resource protection, pollution prevention and control, and ecological restoration.
Their job performance will be assessed and they will be held accountable if environmental damage occurs in the water bodies they take charge of, said the document.
Information including names and responsibilities of the river chiefs will be made public to ensure public supervision, it said.
The government released a national plan on environmental improvements for the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) this month, which set out a plan to clean polluted air, water and soil.
The country’s environmental protection still lags behind its economic status, and decades of fast growth have left it saddled with problems such as smog and contaminated waterways and soil.
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