The river chief system will be fully established by 2018

To further strengthen river and lake management and protection, implement local responsibilities, and improve long-term mechanisms, China will fully establish the river chief system by the end of 2018.

Zhou Xuewen, Vice Minister of Water Resources of China, said today at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office that China recently issued the "Opinions on Fully Implementing the River Chief System," requiring that by the end of 2018, the river chief system be fully implemented across China to strengthen leadership and enforcement and protect water resources.

It is understood that the "river chief system" means that principal Party and government leaders at all levels serve as "river chiefs," responsible for pollution control of rivers within their jurisdictions. Zhou Xuewen, Vice Minister of Water Resources of China, said at the press conference that the "river chief system" is a water pollution control system derived from the leadership supervision system for improving river water quality and the environmental accountability system, with the aim of ensuring that rivers maintain a good ecological environment with clear water, clean banks and swimming fish over the long term: "River chiefs at all levels are responsible for organizing and leading the management and protection of the corresponding rivers and lakes, including water resource protection, water area and shoreline management, water pollution prevention and control, and water environment governance. They take the lead in organizing the cleanup and rectification of prominent problems such as encroachment on river channels, reclamation of lakes, excessive pollutant discharge, and illegal sand mining, coordinate the resolution of major issues, supervise the performance of duties by relevant departments and lower-level river chiefs, and assess the completion of targets and tasks."

The "Opinions" propose fully establishing the river chief system by the end of 2018. At present, 8 provinces and municipalities including Beijing, Tianjin and Jiangsu have implemented the "river chief system" across their entire territories, and 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have partially implemented the "river chief system."

It is understood that in terms of the organizational structure of the "river chief system," vertically, the number of officials at all levels of Party and government leadership serving as "river chiefs" at all levels is nearly 2,000; horizontally, 12 departments at all levels of government, including development and reform, economic and trade, and finance, each have their own division of responsibilities.

Zhang Bo, Director of the Water Environment Management Department of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, pointed out that the "river chief system" integrates to the greatest extent the enforcement capacity of Party and government leaders at all levels and relevant departments, forming an ecological chain of water governance led by Party and government leaders, with action by all departments and participation by the whole public: "In the process of water pollution prevention and control, a major stumbling block we encounter is that the industrial structure in some places is relatively heavy and the layout is not reasonable enough. When promoting this work, we face the dilemma between the environment and development. How to balance environmental protection with economic development and social stability is something local Party committees and governments have the capacity to do. So when the responsibilities of Party committees and governments are put into practice, and when members of Party committee and government leadership take responsibility for each river section, I believe they will be in a better position to coordinate economic and social development with environmental protection and to promote the structural adjustment and layout optimization of industries such as chemical industrial parks."

In addition, the "Opinions on Fully Implementing the River Chief System" also propose establishing a river chief meeting system, an information sharing system, and a public participation system, including establishing an information release platform for river and lake management and protection, publicly announcing the list of river chiefs to society through the media, and erecting river chief notice boards in prominent positions along river and lake banks, among other measures, to proactively accept public oversight.

Zhou Xuewen, Vice Minister of Water Resources of China, gave an example: "Take the public participation system. In the process of implementing the 'river chief system' in Jiangxi, there is a sign beside every river, clearly stating on the notice board who the river chief of that river is and what the contact phone number is. When the public discovers problems in river and lake management during oversight, they can report them in a timely manner, and there must be feedback on how the matter is handled. Ultimately, whether implementation is good or not depends on whether the rivers and lakes have someone to manage them, whether they can be kept under control, whether they can be managed well, and whether results can be seen."