The Hunan Department of Ecology and Environment announced on January 10 that, Hunan's combined proportion of state-controlled water sections with good-quality surface water reached 98.6 percent. This achievement places Hunan in the forefront nationwide and surpasses other provinces in central China.
In 2023, Hunan has carried out comprehensive measures to tackle difficulties and problems, making new breakthroughs and achieved new outcomes in promoting the protection and treatment of "one river, one lake, and four main tributaries" of the province.
Thirty-one specific tasks in four major aspects concerning protection and restoration of the Yangtze River have been rolled out throughout the year, aiming at improving the water quality and water ecology and environment along the Yangtze River Hunan section.
More than 300 projects have been rolled out to cope with total phosphorus pollution around the Dongting Lake, striving to control and reduce the total phosphorus concentration.
The authority has invested more than 150 million CNY, fulfilling the tasks of addressing prominent environmental problems in concentrated drinking water sources that serve more than 1,000 rural residents. These tasks were accomplished ahead of schedule.
More than 7,000 discharge outlets along 14 main rivers and tributaries have been traced, among which 746 ones have been remediated.
Monitoring data showed that, the total phosphorus concentration of the Dongting Lake has decreased to 0.054 milligram per litre in 2023, with the water quality in the West Dongting Lake and South Dongting Lake areas reaching Grade III. The water quality of the province-controlled water sections along the four main tributaries – Xiangjiang, Zijiang, Yuanshui, and Lishui rivers – as well as the Yangtze River Hunan section, were at or above Grade II. The Dongjiang Lake and the Guitang River were listed as annual models of the Beautiful Rivers and Lakes in China.
This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.
Translator: Pang Yuehui
Chinese source: Rednet
