Since the 14th Five Year Plan, various regions and relevant departments have been deeply fighting the battle to protect the clear waters, focusing on the protection and construction of beautiful rivers and lakes, and promoting new achievements in the protection of water ecological environment. The quality of water ecological environment has continued to improve. This was learned by the reporter at a press conference held by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on August 26th. The top-level design is constantly being improved. The Yangtze River Protection Law and the Yellow River Protection Law, two specialized legislation for river basins, have been implemented successively. The three-year action plan for the protection of the Yangtze River and the three-year action plan for the continuous improvement of the ecological coordination pattern of the Yellow River Basin have been issued, providing strong guarantees for promoting the protection of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. The Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Strengthening the Supervision and Management of River and Sea Discharge Outlets, the Measures for the Supervision and Management of River and Sea Discharge Outlets, and 14 technical guidelines have been successively issued, and the "1+N" river and sea discharge outlet supervision and management system has been basically established. Develop and implement the 'Key Watershed Water Ecological Environment Protection Plan', and coordinate the promotion of water resources, water environment, and water ecological governance. We have issued and implemented an action plan for the protection and construction of beautiful rivers and lakes, formulated a beautiful river and lake indicator system and a national level construction list, and clarified the timetable and roadmap for the protection and construction of beautiful rivers and lakes. 66 national water pollutant discharge standards have been released and implemented, including major industries that generate water pollutants within the scope of control. Jointly issued the "Opinions on Further Improving the Horizontal Ecological Protection Compensation Mechanism" and the "Implementation Plan for Deepening the Construction of Horizontal Ecological Protection Compensation Mechanism for Major River Mainstreams", promoting the establishment of 30 cross provincial basin horizontal ecological protection compensation mechanisms in 24 provinces. Since the 14th Five Year Plan, the central government has allocated a total of 124.5 billion yuan in funds for water pollution prevention and control, supporting more than 6000 key engineering projects and effectively supporting the protection of the ecological environment in river basins. Significant progress has been made in the protection and management of major rivers and key lakes and reservoirs. Promote the implementation of the "Action Plan for Deepening the Battle of Yangtze River Protection and Restoration" and the "Action Plan for the Battle of Yellow River Ecological Protection and Governance", coordinate the inspection of the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins and provincial inspections, include prominent water ecological environment problems in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and provinces (regions) along the Yellow River in the scope of ecological environment warning film shooting, and promote the resolution of a number of prominent problems. The main stream of the Yangtze River has maintained Class II water quality for five consecutive years, and the main stream of the Yellow River has maintained Class II water quality for three consecutive years. 29 lakes and reservoirs, including the Taihu Lake Lake and Danjiangkou Reservoir, will be included in the regulatory focus, closely monitoring the algae situation, strengthening emergency response, promoting comprehensive management, and effectively preventing the risk of sudden large-scale water blooms. Establish a joint working group of the Ministry of Plateau Lakes and the province to provide technical assistance for the governance and protection of key lakes such as Fuxian Lake and Erhai Lake. Solid progress has been made in the treatment of urban black and odorous water bodies. Jointly issued the Implementation Plan for Deepening the Battle of Urban Black and Odorous Water Body Treatment and the Action Plan for Environmental Protection of Urban Black and Odorous Water Body Treatment during the 14th Five Year Plan period, expanding the scope of urban black and odorous water body treatment from prefecture level and above cities to county-level cities and counties in seven eastern provinces. Promote various regions to accelerate the filling of the shortcomings in urban domestic sewage pipe networks. The total length of urban sewage pipe networks in China has reached 520000 kilometers, and the sewage treatment scale has reached 230 million cubic meters per day. Focus on key areas such as densely populated areas in cities (including county towns), new development and construction zones, and areas surrounding sewage treatment plants, strengthen supervision and technical assistance, and continue to promote the treatment of black and odorous water bodies. As of the first half of this year, the elimination rate of black and odorous water bodies in county-level cities nationwide has exceeded 90%, and the effectiveness of black and odorous water body treatment in prefecture level and above cities has been further consolidated and improved. The supervision and management of river discharge outlets have been comprehensively strengthened. Promote the development of investigation and rectification plans in prefecture level cities across the country, and refine the requirements for the entire process of "investigation, testing, tracing, treatment, and management". Focus on the main streams, important tributaries, and key lakes of seven major river basins including the Yangtze River and Yellow River, and carry out a carpet style survey of "all mouths should be checked, and all should be checked". According to the requirements of "lawfully banning one batch, cleaning up and merging one batch, and regulating and rectifying one batch", classify and rectify the discharge outlets into rivers. The central government has allocated over 3.1 billion yuan to support the standardized construction of more than 8000 river discharge outlets, compiled and rectified typical cases, and provided practical guidance for local standardized rectification. Implement "one port, one code" and "smart efficiency improvement" to achieve "networked, searchable, and traceable" information of sewage outlets. Fully utilize the integrated supervision methods of sky and earth, focus on building a "sky view, cloud core, ground inspection" supervision system, explore new non site supervision models of "cloud interpretation, cloud diagnosis, cloud warning" through "machine for human, image for site", and promote the solution of more than 2300 prominent problems. Include typical problems in the central ecological and environmental protection inspection and warning film exposure, and strengthen the responsibility for rectification through the linkage of "inspection, reform, and supervision". As of the first half of this year, a total of about 580000 kilometers of river and lake shorelines have been inspected in seven major river basins across the country, and 360000 sewage outlets have been identified. The completion rate of sewage outlet remediation has exceeded 90%. The supervision of water pollution source control is constantly deepening. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has jointly issued the "Management Measures for the Construction Standards and Certification of Chemical Industry Parks (Trial)", which clarifies the requirements for sewage collection and treatment, conducts regular inspections and scheduling, and supervises and guides local governments to promote the construction and certification management of chemical industry parks in a standardized manner. We will continue to carry out the special action of water pollution control in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and industrial parks along the Yellow River, and promote the construction of more than 2700 centralized sewage treatment facilities in more than 1900 provincial-level and above industrial parks, and solve more than 3500 problems such as incomplete pipeline networks and abnormal facility operation. With the strong support of the National Development and Reform Commission, the water pollution control of the industrial parks in the Yangtze River Economic Belt has been included in the "dual" support scope of ultra long term special treasury bond. Introduce the Notice on Further Standardizing the Environmental Management of Urban (Park) Sewage Treatment, clarify the responsibilities of the government, enterprises, and sewage treatment plants, and standardize environmental supervision and management. The United Nations Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development and other departments have issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Construction and Operation Maintenance of Urban Domestic Sewage Pipeline Network", "Implementation Plan for Promoting the Construction and Management of Domestic Sewage and Garbage Treatment Facilities in Established Towns", "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Synergistic Efficiency of Pollution Reduction and Carbon Reduction in Sewage Treatment", "Pilot Implementation Plan for Regional Recycled Water Recycling", guiding localities to make up for the shortcomings of facilities, reduce overflow pollution during the rainy season, standardize treatment standards, and promote the resource utilization of recycled water and sludge. Include urban sewage treatment plants with a daily processing capacity of 500 tons or more in supervision, regularly schedule the inflow and outflow of 12438 centralized sewage treatment facilities, and effectively improve the collection and treatment efficiency. Positive progress has been made in the protection and restoration of aquatic ecology. We will issue detailed scoring criteria for water ecological assessment indicators in the Yangtze River Basin, steadily promote pilot projects for water ecological assessment in the Yangtze River Basin, conduct water ecological monitoring and investigation on 50 water bodies, regularly conduct water ecological status assessments, and achieve a transition from qualitative description to quantitative evaluation. Solidly promote the ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River and strengthen the conservation of aquatic biological resources in key river basins such as the Yangtze River and Yellow River. From 2021 to 2024, a total of 344 indigenous fish species were monitored in the Yangtze River Basin, an increase of 36 species from 2017 to 2020; The population of Yangtze finless porpoises has risen to 1249, and after 30 years, the catfish has once again traveled upstream to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Dongting Lake area. Strengthening the ecological flow guarantee of rivers and lakes, the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal has been fully connected for three consecutive years, and the Yongding River has been fully connected for four consecutive years. The level of ensuring the safety of drinking water for the public continues to improve. Solidly promote the standardized construction of centralized drinking water source areas, issue policy documents for the division of drinking water source protection areas, and designate a total of 24000 township level and above centralized drinking water source protection areas. The national township level centralized drinking water source protection area benchmark rate has reached 94.6%, and the delineation and benchmark of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has been basically completed. Solidly promote the environmental protection action of drinking water source areas, carry out the investigation and rectification of surface water type centralized drinking water source areas in county-level and above cities, and investigate and deal with a number of environmental violations. As of the end of 2024, 96% of centralized drinking water sources in county-level and above cities in China have reached or exceeded Class III water quality standards. The water quality of the water sources and transmission trunk lines of the South to North Water Diversion Project's Middle Route remains at Class II or above throughout the year, while the water quality of the East Route Project has remained stable at Class III or above for several consecutive years. The comprehensive supervision mechanism for water ecological environment is constantly improving. Revise the working rules of the ecological environment supervision and management bureau for river basins and sea areas, issue annual key tasks, and strengthen unified supervision and management of river basins. Regularly conduct national water ecological environment situation analysis and consultation, accurately identify prominent water ecological environment problems and areas with lagging work, strengthen closed-loop management of problem lists, and consolidate local main responsibilities. Issuing a notice to strengthen the supervision of water environment during the flood season, guiding various regions to focus on key areas and carry out pre flood risk and hidden danger investigation and rectification. We will deepen the investigation of risks and hidden dangers in sudden environmental incidents, promote the establishment of a joint prevention and control mechanism for sudden water pollution incidents in upstream and downstream of cross provincial river basins, and have completed the compilation of environmental emergency "one river, one policy, one map" for 2515 key river sudden water pollution incidents, effectively controlling water environmental risks in river basins. Data shows that by 2024, the proportion of high-quality surface water sections in China will reach 90.4%, an increase of 1.0 percentage point year-on-year, surpassing 90% for the first time and achieving the target of the 14th Five Year Plan ahead of schedule. The water quality of the Taihu Lake Lake has reached the best level since the monitoring data were available, and the water quality of Erhai Lake has remained above Class III. In the first half of this year, the proportion of excellent surface water quality sections in China was 89.0%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points year-on-year, continuing to maintain a stable and positive trend. (New Society)