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Photo taken on May 13, 2021 shows Yangtze alligators at a release
point of the Anhui Chinese alligator national nature reserve in Jingxian
county, East China's Anhui province. [Photo/Xinhua] China has made great progress in conserving and restoring the
ecosystem of the Yangtze River in its wide-ranging efforts to protect
Asia's longest watercourse, according to Huang Runqiu, Minister of
Ecology and Environment. In 2020, the quality of water at all monitored sections along the
river's main stream rated at or above Grade II, an unprecedented result,
and the second highest level in the country's five-tier assessment
system for grading surface water, the Minister said, as he delivered a
report on the protection of Yangtze to the ongoing session of the
Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on Monday. The achievement was possible thanks to a series of measures taken to curb pollutants discharged into the river last year. Huang said that 558 plants producing hazardous chemical in
densely-populated areas in the Yangtze River Economic Belt were either
upgraded or relocated. All outdated chemical production sites within a
kilometer from the Yangtze's main stream have also been shut down. The Yangtze River Economic Belt covers all but two of the 11 regions
the Yangtze flows through, with Qinghai province and the Tibet
autonomous region being the exceptions. It also includes Zhejiang and
Guizhou provinces, which are home to tributaries of the Yangtze. Aside from enhancing wastewater management in major industrial parks,
efforts have been made to prevent pollutants in the mining sector from
entering the river. Pollution control work has been completed in 1,618
tailings ponds in the basin, out of a total of 1,641. "Accelerated efforts have been made to address the shortfall in
collecting and disposing of domestic wastewater," Huang noted. "All
cities along the Yangtze's main artery are now served by concentrated
wastewater disposal facilities." Almost 24,000 sewage draining exits that directly discharged urban
waste wastewater in the basin have been removed, he continued. Huang said authorities have effectively curbed illegal sand mining
along main body of the river thanks to a special campaign jointly
launched by several government bodies. Meanwhile, 2,431 projects that
illegally encroached on the Yangtze were rectified, which helped restore
158 kilometers of shoreline.
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