Hunan's combined proportion of state-controlled water sections with good-quality surface water reached 98.6% in 2022, an increase of 1.4 percentage points over the previous year. It was the best in recent years, taking the lead nationwide and topping the central part of China. It was learned from the Ecology and Environment Department of Hunan Province on January 16, 2022.

Hunan Province is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and 97.6% of its area belongs to the Yangtze River basin, which is of significant importance to ecological protection. The province, in view of its governance shortcomings and the weak point of management of water environment, has carried out "summer battle" against pollution for six consecutive years since 2017. It has completed more than 8,500 water-related remediation tasks; comprehensively restored ecology of 545 abandoned opencast mines on both sides of the Yangtze River and the Xiangjiang River; and, made efforts to close hillsides to facilitate afforestation and return cropland back to forests. It has fully enforced the 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River; strengthened protection of 45 protected areas for rare aquatic animals; implemented over 40 comprehensive agricultural non-point source pollution control projects in typical watersheds; and, improved 183 black and fetid water bodies. It has achieved full coverage of domestic sewage and garbage collection and treatment facilities in towns and townships, and all the 144 industrial parks and zones at the provincial level or above have been equipped with centralized sewage treatment facilities.

Hunan has systematically implemented policies and made targeted efforts to improve the water environment. The surface water sections on Hunan's "four rivers" - Xiangjiang, Zijiang, Yuanshui, and Lishui - and the Hunan section of the Yangtze River main stream monitored by the province have reached Grade II surface water quality standard or above for three consecutive years.

The surface water environment quality of Yongzhou, Zhangjiajie, Huaihua, and Shaoyang ranked top 30 nationwide in 2022. Both the quantity and rankings were the best in years. In 2022, the total phosphorus concentration of the Dongting Lake decreased by 15% compared to 2018, and the water quality of the western and southern parts of the Dongting Lake reached Grade III.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn