China Focus: Responsibility flows downstream for Chinese river chiefs

District official Tang Youbo was surprised when he was bestowed with the title of River Chief for Sancha River, a tributary to the Yangtze River, China's longest.

As head of the government of Pingba district, Anshun city, Tang is not only responsible for his own district, but now oversees the water quality of Sancha, 40 kilometers of which lies in his jurisdiction.

"Once the water quality of Sancha drops, as a river chief, I am the first to bear the blame, regardless of who polluted the river," said Tang.

China first adopted the practice of appointing local heads of government as Hezhang, or river chiefs, in 2007.

The mechanism was initiated in Wuxi city, Jiangsu province, to address pollution woes of a blue algae outbreak in Taihu Lake, according to Li Zuojun, deputy director of the resources and environment policy institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Prior to the change, river management fell into the hands of several authorities. But a lack of strong leadership, weak coordination and lax supervision contributed to multiple pollution outbreaks.

Li said high-ranking officials who have decision making rights are hired to ensure strong enforcement of environmental policy and to clean up the rivers, said Li.

Now river chiefs are hired in at least a dozen provinces and cities including Guizhou, Sichuan, Anhui, Zhejiang and Guangdong, mostly southern provinces rich in water resources.

Responsibilities of the river chiefs include preventing potentially harmful industries being built along the rivers, securing river-cleanup funding and enforcement of policies.

Officials who achieve annual goals get rewards. Those whose rivers show signs of pollution are punished with fines and loss of promotion. Investigation or reviews are carried out to uncover cases of dereliction of duty or misconduct if public complaints rise.

Under such pressure, Tang Youbo has made Sancha river protection a job priority. He patrols the river at least once a month and pays special attention to reports of pollution in the river.

Sancha river, about 325 kilometers long, flows to the Wujiang river, which then reaches Yangtze. Sancha had its first river chief in 2009.

Six years ago, water quality in Sancha river was rated at the third-level under a five-grade system, which is not suitable for drinking. Now, the quality has been improved to the second grade.

In 2015, more than 9 million yuan was invested to build waste water processing facilities along Sancha, said Xia Yuanchang, deputy director of the environment protection bureau of Pingba district.

Funding for Sancha river protection has grown 20 percent every year since 2009, said Xia. Several sewage processing facilities have been built and trees were planted along the river to battle soil erosion.

Jiang Ping, deputy chief of the Guizhou provincial environment protection department, said the title of river chief is like Damocles Sword. "It has greatly raised conservation awareness for local officials, most of whom had been growth-centered," he said.

Guizhou now has 98 river chiefs at provincial, city and county levels, Jiang said. At more grass roots levels, farmers who are hired for regular river clean-up efforts are also called river chiefs.

In the past five years, monitoring data showed 87 percent of the Guizhou river met national water quality standards, up 15 percent from 2010. In the next two years, Guizhou's environment protection funding will reach 23.4 billion yuan.

Administrative means have proven quite effective, but it is far from enough, said Li Zuojun, adding that legal support, market means, public awareness and company ethics also need to be stepped up. Endi