In recent years, Hunan Province has actively explored the paths of beautiful rivers and lakes, ecological buffer zones, farmland nitrogen and phosphorus ecological interception ditches, underwater forests, wetland protection and restoration, in a bid to achieve breakthroughs in the transformation of water environment governance to water ecological restoration, and improve water quality and ecological restoration.

 

In order to protect Dongjiang Lake, the provincial People’s Congress promulgated the “Regulations on the Protection of the Water Environment in Dongjiang Lake, Hunan Province”; Chenzhou, as well as the counties and cities in the basin, set up high-level Dongjiang Lake environmental protection and governance committees. 

 

Over the years, the local government has vetoed the project investment of more than 60 billion yuan, closed more than 10 mining areas and all high-polluting enterprises in the basin, and completed the withdrawal of all 594 livestock and poultry farms along the coast. Besides, there is a total ban on logging in the forest land in the basin and a ten-year ban on fishing. 

 

With these efforts, the water quality in Dongjiang Lake remains stable in Class I, the TSI (trophic state index) is classified as oligotrophic, the ecological water security rate of the downstream of Xiangjiang River is 100%, and the annual tourism revenue for the local area exceeds 11 billion yuan.