Ningxia's 4,307 river and lake chiefs protect the entire region's rivers and lakes. The water quality of the Ningxia section of the main stream of the Yellow River has maintained Class II for 9 consecutive years.

China News Service, Yinchuan, October 20 (Reporter Yu Jing) On October 20, the reporter reported from "The 10th Anniversary of the Comprehensive Implementation of the River and Lake Chief System" The press conference of “Strive to Draw a New Picture of Human-Water Harmony” was informed that since the implementation of the river and lake chief system for 10 years, Ningxia has established a five-level river and lake management and protection system, with 4,307 district, city, county, township and village river and lake chiefs covering 907 rivers and 61 lakes. The water quality of the Ningxia section of the main stream of the Yellow River has been maintained at Class II for nine consecutive years.

Since the full implementation of the river and lake chief system in 2016, Ningxia has built a collaborative co-management team of "river chief + prosecutor general + police chief", with 263 river and lake chief prosecutors and 381 river and lake police chiefs participating in river and lake management on a regular basis. Institutional guarantees continue to improve. The local government has promulgated the "Regulations on the Management and Protection of Rivers and Lakes in the Autonomous Region", and has introduced 28 supporting systems such as assignment, supervision, and assessment. 27 responsible departments have established a joint meeting mechanism, and river and lake management and protection have been included in the performance target assessment. Ningxia has issued a total of 30 million yuan in incentive funds for the river and lake chief system.

In terms of river and lake management and control, Ningxia has delineated the scope of river and lake management, compiled 122 river and lake shoreline protection and utilization plans, formulated a "one river (one policy)" plan for 54 rivers and lakes, and established "five lists" of issues, goals, tasks, measures, and responsibilities. In the past 10 years, Ningxia has approved 668 river-related construction projects in accordance with the law, cleared and rectified more than 4,300 "four chaos" problems in rivers and lakes, and restored 4,594 kilometers of river and lake shorelines. At the same time, relying on more than 900 sets of video surveillance, more than 20 drones, and superimposed satellite remote sensing technology, dynamic supervision of rivers and lakes is realized; electronic licenses are fully implemented for river sand mining, and the entire approval process is traceable.

Relying on the river and lake chief system, Ningxia coordinates the management of water disasters, water resources, water ecology, and water environment systems, and solidly promotes the implementation of "four waters and four stability" to achieve results. Data show that local water consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP and 10,000 yuan of industrial added value dropped by 46.1% and 39.3% respectively. Through comprehensive control of agricultural non-point source, industrial and domestic pollution, the improvement of sewage outlets into rivers continues to be promoted, and the "double clearing" of inferior Class V water bodies and urban black and odorous water bodies has been achieved.

At present, Ningxia is making every effort to tackle the ecological management of the "Several Bends" of the Yellow River, continue to carry out the mother river recovery operation, and strengthen the water source conservation of the "three mountains". At present, Ningxia's soil and water conservation rate has increased to 78.14%, and the ecological flow guarantee rate of key rivers and lakes has reached 100%. The ecological outlook of Saishang's rivers and lakes continues to improve.