China intensifies protection of Yangtze River during first year after adoption of new conservation law

It has been one year now since China officially adopted the Yangtze River Conservation Law on March 1, 2021. Over the past year, various localities and government departments have earnestly implemented the law, having gradually developed a system of laws and regulations on water protection while improving the water quality of the Yangtze River.

Photo taken on Dec. 10, 2020 shows scenery of taxodium trees near the Yangtze River in Dazhou Town, Wanzhou District of southwest China's Chongqing. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

At the end of December 2021, a special campaign aimed at cracking down on illegal sand mining along the Yangtze River was launched. Along one section of the river which runs nearly 300 kilometers between Wuhan and Wuxue, two cities in central China’s Hubei Province, the local authorities dispatched a large number of law enforcement vessels to conduct patrol activities.

“There are numerous temporary wharfs here, and also several branches of the river meet here, providing a good environment for vessels to hide. After carrying out investigations, we discovered that illegal sand mining activities have returned here in a concealed manner. During the campaign, we cracked down on illegal sand mining activities and brought a deterrent effect against such activities,” said Liu Pinggang, head of the waterway sand excavation management department under the Changjiang Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources.

Liu introduced that in the past, those who carried out illegal sand mining activities along the Yangtze River would face a fine with an upper limit of 300,000 yuan; but nowadays, they will face a fine which has an upper limit that is 20 times the value of the sand loaded onto the vessels, or a maximum of 2 million yuan.

“Who and where to carry out sand mining activities and who will supervise these activities are clearly defined in the Yangtze River Conservation Law,” said Chen Dongming, deputy director of the Policy and Regulations Department of the Ministry of Water Resources.

Over the past year since the Yangtze River Conservation Law was adopted, illegal sand mining activities have been severely combated along the river, the waterways have been strictly managed, and relevant departments’ flood and drought disaster prevention capabilities have been improved, Chen introduced.

The Yangtze River Conservation Law also puts the Danjiangkou Reservoir, an important water conservation zone alongside the Yangtze River at the junction of Hubei Province and Henan Province, under protection.

“The law provides strong support for us to carry out our work regarding the protection of the Reservoir,” said Hu Xianping, secretary of the Party committee of Yunyang district, Shiyan city, Hubei Province.

New technologies have improved conservation efforts, with the Yangtze River ecological flow monitoring and control platform being one of them.

“The data is upgraded every hour, and once the water flow of the river is below the level of the ecological flow, the system will give out an early warning for us to take actions,” said Qiu Liang, deputy director of the coordination office of the water resource saving and conservation department with the Changjiang Water Resources Commission.

The Qinhuai River, flowing through Nanjing, capital city of east China’s Jiangsu Province, is a tributary of the Yangtze River. According to Yan Feng from the Nanjing branch of the Jiangsu Province Hydrology and Water Resources Investigation Bureau, they have established seven water flow monitoring stations, six water level monitoring stations, five water quality monitoring stations and 28 video monitoring stations to collect real-time information on the Qinhuai River.