River chief mechanism ramps up river improvement

In midsummer, the banks of the Wujiang River in Xifeng county, Guiyang, are lush with vegetation, and the clear waters ripple gently. 

He Xiudong, a resident of Xifeng who grew up by the Wujiang River, is awestruck by the river's transformation: "In the past, rampant cage fish farming caused the river water to stink and turn black. In recent years, with the implementation of the river chief mechanism, the rigorous control of cage fish farming and the ten-year fishing ban measures, the Wujiang River has become clear."

This beautiful transformation of the Wujiang River is a result of the county's comprehensive implementation of a river chief mechanism.

Since 2017, Xifeng has appointed river chiefs at the county, township, and village levels for each river. Responsibilities and goals are assigned down to individual townships, villages, and people, ensuring that every segment of every river has someone patrolling, managing, and taking responsibility at all times.

To date, Xifeng has appointed two county-level general river chiefs, two deputy county-level general river chiefs, 19 county-level river chiefs, 42 township-level river chiefs, and 109 village-level river chiefs.

Over 30 river chief bulletin boards have been set up, incorporating all 19 rivers in the county into the county-level river chief system, achieving comprehensive coverage of the county's water systems.

Since 2017, county-level river chiefs have patrolled the rivers over 490 times, and township and village-level river chiefs have patrolled over 46,000 times.