Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment organized an appraisal activity of outstanding models of beautiful rivers and lakes in 2021. A total of 4 beautiful rivers and lakes in Shanghai were selected as outstanding models. Among them, the ecologically clean river system in Luojing Town, Baoshan District is on the list!

Baoshan District

The ecologically clean river system in Luojing Town

Since 2017, Luojing Town has comprehensively promoted the “river chief system” in accordance with the overall requirements for water environment harnessing, including river dredging (18.8km river dredging work has been completed), and sewage interception pipes (newly-built secondary sewage pipeline network has reached 11.26 km). The management of 368 point pollution sources, the transformation of 412,300 m³ of rain and sewage mixed in the community) and “one river, one policy” remediation (203 sections), etc. are basically completed. In 2019, the class V water in the river network of the town had been basically eliminated.

Before and after the harnessing

Taking the opportunity of creating Shanghai’s first rural revitalization “five-village linkage” area, Luojing Town launched the implementation of a demonstration project of ecologically clean water system harnessing, in which water-bank linkage, systematic harnessing, ecological priority, and coordinated advancement were promoted. The demonstration project took the ecological restoration of the water environment as the core, and carried out the interception of source pollution and in-situ ecological restoration of water bodies through the construction of “efficient phosphorus removal interception device, front shoal ecological wetland system, submerged plant purification system, waterfront plant purification system, aquatic animal purification system”. Ultimately, the river system was endowed with ecological self-purification functions and the biological diversity of river networks and the stability of the ecosystem are improved. After the restoration of water ecology, the main water quality indicators of the rivers meet the national surface water environmental quality standards III-IV (including 35.3% of the I-III rivers), the water body is clear, and the transparency is 80-150 cm.

At the same time, since 2018, the water ecological health assessment of the river network of the whole town has been gradually carried out to further consolidate the ecological foundation of Luojing Town, significantly improving the regional environment and the water quality. The river system of the “Xingfu River” achieves “land-river clean, environment-friendly, ecologically sound, and harmony between people and water”. “Sanxian River” was awarded “the most beautiful river of Shanghai”. Yangqiao Village, Huahong Village, Haixing Village, Tangwan Village and Xinlu Village successively won the title of “Beautiful Demonstration Village of Shanghai”; Luojing Town achieved “four consecutive championships” of Shanghai Civilized Town and successfully won the title of “National Hygienic Town”; Tangwan Village was rated as one of the 5th National Civilized Villages.

Nowadays, no matter in the morning or in the evening, when exercising and walking along the river bank, one can enjoy the breeze, appreciate the blue waves, and savor the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers. These have become a new leisure choice for villagers. Spring is like poetry, summer is picturesque, autumn is like a dream, and winter is like wine. The comprehensive treatment of rivers and lakes and the improvement of quality have been implemented from concept to reality and achieved step by step. A town raises its people, and its people love the town’s water. Luojing Town nowadays presents a beautiful picture of “harmony between people and water”.

In the future, Luojing Town will continue to explore the long-term management mechanism of water conservation-type ecologically clean water system, and achieve the long-term goal of “beautiful rivers and lakes, ecological harmony, landscape humanities, green development, and happy life”.

What is “outstanding model of beautiful rivers and lakes”? The outstanding model of beautiful rivers and lakes means that the local government follows the concept of the management of landscape, forests, fields, lakes and grasses, and adopts effective measures to systematically solve the ecological and environmental problems of local rivers and lakes, or maintain the local outstanding ecological environment without degradation, so that the rivers and lakes can maintain or restore the scene of “clear water and green banks, and fishes live happily”. It is the successful experience and practice that enable the common people to have a sense of gain and to significantly increase their sense of happiness. The above-mentioned rivers and lakes can be complete rivers and lakes, or important rivers and lakes with certain ecological integrity. In principle, relevant rivers and lakes should have provincial control and above monitoring sections (points). The outstanding models of beautiful rivers and lakes are a vivid manifestation of the good experiences and good practices of building a beautiful China, which is of great demonstration value.