Zhong Youguo was recently given a new job: to clean up a 7.5-km section of a river in his hometown.
Zhong, the deputy head of Shuangxi Township in east China's Jiangxi Province, was recently appointed Hezhang, or river chief, to help guarantee the water quality of a section of the Beiliao River, a small tributary of the Yangtze, China's longest river.
The river is frequently covered in garbage and local fishermen are often caught fishing illegally.
"If I find anyone dumping waste into the river or fishing illegally, I stop them immediately or report it to the county office," Zhong said.
China is appointing local government heads as "river chiefs" to clean up its water resources as the nation's polluted rivers become an increasingly important talking point.
River chiefs have been hired in at least a dozen provinces and cities including Guizhou, Sichuan, Anhui, Zhejiang and Guangdong, mostly southern provinces rich in water resources.
Jiangxi has become the latest province to join the river chief movement, with the mechanism implemented across the province. There are currently 799 river chiefs on the provincial, city and county levels in the province, according to official statistics.
China first adopted the practice of appointing local heads of government as river chiefs in 2007.
It was first initiated in Wuxi city, Jiangsu province, to address pollution woes after a blue algae outbreak in Taihu Lake. 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.
RIVER CHIEFS
Gan Lilin, a 52-year-old village head, patrols the Beiliao River on a bamboo raft every day, picking up trash.
"Sometimes I can pick two bags of waste," he said.
