Chapter III

Resource Protection

Article 29 The protection and utilization of water resources in the Yangtze River basin shall, in accordance with the comprehensive planning of the river basin, give high priority to satisfying urban and rural residents' needs for domestic water use, guarantee basic ecological water use, and coordinate the needs of agriculture, industry, and shipping for water. 

Article 30 Relevant river basin management agencies of the water resources department under the State Council shall consult with the provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin to formulate the water distribution plan for inter-provincial rivers in accordance with the law, and report to the State Council or a department authorized by the State Council for approval before implementation. To formulate a water distribution plan for inter-provincial rivers in the Yangtze River basin, the opinions of relevant departments under the State Council shall be sought. The water resources departments of the provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall formulate the water distribution plans for the Yangtze River basin in their respective administrative areas, and report them to the people's governments at the same level for approval before implementation.

Relevant river basin management agencies of the water resources department under the State Council or the water resources departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall prepare annual water distribution plans and allocation plans based on the approved water distribution plans mentioned above, clarify the requirements for the control of the flow rate, water volume, and water level of relevant river sections and control sections.

Article 31 The State shall strengthen the protection of ecological water use in the Yangtze River basin. The water resources department under the State Council shall, in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council, determine ecological flow control indicators for the Yangtze River's main stream, major tributaries and important lake sections. Other river and lake ecological flow control indicators shall be determined by the water resources departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin in conjunction with relevant departments of the people's governments at the same level.

Relevant river basin management agencies of the water resources department under the State Council shall include the ecological water volume in the annual water volume allocation plan to meet the basic ecological water demand of rivers and lakes, ensure the ecological flow during the dry season and fish spawning period, the water volume and water level of important lakes, and maintain a balance in salt water and fresh water in the Yangtze River estuary.

The water conservancy, hydropower, and shipping hub projects on the main stream and major tributaries of the Yangtze River, and the upper reaches of important lakes in the Yangtze River basin shall incorporate ecological water allocation into daily operation and allocation procedures, and establish a regular ecological allocation mechanism to ensure the ecological flow of rivers and lakes. Where the discharge flow does not meet the requirements of ecological flow discharge, the water resources departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall determine corrective measures and supervises their implementation.

Article 32 Relevant departments under the State Council and all local people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall take measures to accelerate the reinforcement of dilapidated reservoirs, advance the construction of dikes and flood storage areas, raise the standards of flood prevention projects, strengthen the joint scheduling of water projects, and carry out river sediment observations and river regime surveys, establish flood prevention and disaster mitigation engineering and non-engineering systems that are compatible with economic and social development, and improve the overall ability to prevent floods and droughts.

Article 33 The State shall conduct scientific demonstrations on and strengthen control and administration over the transfer of water from the Yangtze River basin to other parts of China. In such water transfers, high priority shall be given to ensuring the water security and ecological security of the donor area and its downstream areas, and overall planning shall be made for the water need of the donor area and the recipient area.

Article 34 The State shall strengthen the protection of drinking water sources in the Yangtze River basin. The water resources department under the State Council shall, in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council, formulate a directory of drinking water sources in the Yangtze River basin. The water resources departments of the provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall, in conjunction with relevant departments of the people's governments at the same level, formulate lists of other drinking water sources in their respective administrative areas.

The provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall organize the delimiting of drinking water source protection areas, strengthen the protection of drinking water sources, and ensure the safety of drinking water.

Article 35 The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin and their relevant departments shall rationally arrange drinking water source intakes, formulate emergency response plans for drinking water safety emergencies, strengthen the construction of backup emergency drinking water sources, and conduct real-time monitoring of the water environment quality of drinking water sources.

Article 36 The local people's governments at the county level or above in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Area and its upstream areas shall, in accordance with the administrative requirements of areas to guarantee safe drinking water sources, water quality control areas, and ecological development areas for water conservation, strengthen the overall protection of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands, and enhance water resource conservation capacity, and ensure water quality is stable and up to standards.

Article 37 The State shall strengthen the protection of groundwater resources in the Yangtze River basin. The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin and their relevant departments shall regularly survey and assess groundwater resources, monitor groundwater volume, level, and quality, and take corresponding risk prevention measures to ensure the safety of groundwater resources.

Article 38 The water resources department under the State Council shall, in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council, determine the agricultural and industrial water efficiency targets in the Yangtze River basin, strengthen the construction of water metering and monitoring facilities, improve the water resource evaluation system for planning and construction projects, strengthen the water quota management of water-consuming industries and key water-using organizations, and strictly control the construction of high-water-consuming projects.

Article 39 The State shall coordinate the construction of the natural reserve system in the Yangtze River basin. The State Council and the provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall establish national parks, nature reserves, and nature parks in accordance with the law in areas with complete distribution of important typical ecosystems, ecologically and environmentally sensitive areas, areas with natural concentrations of precious wild animals and plants, important habitats, and important areas of natural relics in the Yangtze River basin.

Article 40 The State Council and the provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall, in accordance with law, delimit public welfare forests in important ecological areas and ecologically fragile areas in the Yangtze River basin and implement strict management. The State implements strict protection of natural forests in the Yangtze River basin, and scientifically delimits key areas for natural forest protection.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall strengthen the protection of grassland resources in the Yangtze River basin, and strictly manage basic grasslands with special functions such as climate regulation, water conservation, water and soil conservation, and windbreak and sand fixation.

The forestry and grassland department under the State Council and the forestry and grassland departments of the provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall, together with relevant departments of the people's governments at the same level, publish lists of the important national and local wetlands in the Yangtze River basin and the scope of their protection in accordance with the needs of different ecological locations, ecosystem functions and biodiversity protection to strengthen the protection and management of the wetlands in the Yangtze River basin and maintain their ecological functions and biodiversity.

Article 41 The department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council shall, together with relevant departments under the State Council and the provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin, establish the evaluation system for the index of biological integrity  in the Yangtze River Basin, organize the integrity evaluation of aquatic organisms in the Yangtze River basin, and use the results as an important basis for assessing the overall ecosystem in the Yangtze River basin. The index of biological integrity in the Yangtze River basin shall be consistent with the water environment quality standards of the Yangtze River basin.

Article 42 The department of agricultural and rural affairs under the State Council and the local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall formulate plans for the protection of precious and endangered aquatic wild animals and plants in the Yangtze River basin, and implement key protection for the precious and endangered aquatic wild animals and plants in the Yangtze River basin.

The State encourages qualified organizations to carry out research on the habitat characteristics and population dynamics of aquatic wild animals and plants, such as Yangtze finless porpoise, Chinese river dolphins, Chinese paddlefish, Chinese sturgeons, Yangtze sturgeons, Luciobrama macrocephalus, reeves shad, Onychostoma angustistomata, Hucho bleekeri, mullets, Ochetobius elongatus, Coreius guichenoti, Scaphesthes macrolepis, Sinilabeo rendahli, Percocypris pingi, nostoc sphaeroides, arcuate algae, pondweed, and Ottelia cordata, build artificial breeding and science education bases, and organize the rescue of aquatic organisms.

It is forbidden to breed or release exotic species or other germplasm resources of non-native species in the open waters of the Yangtze River basin.

Chapter IV

Water Pollution Prevention and Control

Article 43 The department of ecology and environment under the State Council and all local people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall take effective measures to strengthen the prevention, control and monitoring of water pollution in the Yangtze River basin to prevent, control and reduce water pollution.

Article 44 The department of ecology and environment under the State Council shall formulate the water environment quality standards of the Yangtze River basin. It may supplement the items not specified in the national water environment quality standards and make stricter provisions for the items already specified in the water environment quality standards. The opinions of the relevant departments under the State Council and the provincial-level people's governments concerned shall be solicited in formulating the water environment quality standards of the Yangtze River basin. The provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin may formulate their local water environment quality standards that are more stringent than the water environment quality standards of the Yangtze River basin and report them to the department of ecology and environment under the State Council for the record.

Article 45 The provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall formulate supplementary local standards for the water pollutant discharge for industries with unique features and special pollutants for which there are no national standards for water pollutant discharge, or for the specific water pollution sources or water pollutants for which there are clear national requirements, and report their local standards to the department of ecology and environment under the State Council for the record.

Under any of the following circumstances, the provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall formulate local water pollutant discharge standards that are stricter than the national water pollutant discharge standards, and report their local standards to the department of ecology and environment under the State Council for the record.

(1) Where industries are intensive and water environment problems are prominent; 

(2) Where the existing water pollutant discharge standards cannot meet the water environment quality requirements of the Yangtze River basin under their jurisdiction;

(3) The water environment of the river basin or region is so complicated that unified water pollutant discharge standards cannot be applied.

Article 46 The provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall formulate total phosphorus pollution control plans for their respective administrative areas and organize their implementation. For the main stream and tributaries of the Yangtze River where the production of phosphate ores and phosphate fertilizer is concentrated, relevant provincial-level people's governments shall formulate stricter requirements for total phosphorus emissions control to effectively control total phosphorus emissions.

Enterprises that mine and process phosphate ores and manufacture phosphate fertilizers and phosphorus-containing pesticides shall take effective measures to control the concentration and total discharge of total phosphorus in accordance with the requirements for pollutant discharge permits, monitor total phosphorus at sewage outlets and the surrounding environment, and disclose the monitoring information in accordance with the law.

Article 47 The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall make overall plans for the construction of centralized urban and rural sewage treatment facilities and supporting pipe networks in the Yangtze River basin, ensure their normal operation and improve urban and rural sewage collection and treatment capacities.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall organize the investigation and remediation of the sewage outlets of rivers and lakes in their respective administrative areas, clarify the responsible entities, and implement classified management.

The establishment, alteration, or expansion of sewage outlets in any river or lake in the Yangtze River basin shall, in accordance with the relevant national regulations, be submitted to the competent department of ecology and environment or the ecological and environmental supervision and administration agency for the Yangtze River basin with jurisdiction for approval. For the water function areas that fail to attain the water quality objectives, the establishment, alteration, or expansion of sewage outlets shall be strictly controlled, except for the outfalls of the central sewage treatment facilities.

Article 48 The State shall strengthen the prevention and control of agricultural non-point source pollution in the Yangtze River basin. In agricultural production in the Yangtze River basin, agricultural inputs shall be used in a scientific way, the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides shall be reduced, the use of organic fertilizers shall be promoted, and agricultural wastes such as agricultural film and crop straw shall be disposed of in a scientific way.

Article 49 It is forbidden to dump, bury, pile up, discard, or treat solid waste within the limits of control areas for rivers and lakes in the Yangtze River basin. The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall strengthen joint prevention and control of illegal transfer and dumping of solid waste.

Article 50 The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall organize investigations and assessments of major groundwater pollution sources along rivers and lakes, such as landfill sites, gas stations, mines, tailings ponds, hazardous waste disposal sites, and chemical industry parks and projects, as well as the surrounding groundwater environmental risks and hidden dangers, and shall take corresponding risk prevention and control measures.

Article 51 The State shall integrate pollution liability insurance and financial guarantee for vessels carrying dangerous goods in the Yangtze River basin. The specific measures shall be formulated by the transport department under the State Council in conjunction with other relevant departments under the State Council.

In the Yangtze River basin, it is prohibited to transport highly toxic chemicals on water and other hazardous chemicals that are prohibited by the State from being transported through inland rivers. The transport departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall, together with the relevant departments under the people's governments at the same level, strengthen the control over the transportation of hazardous chemicals in the Yangtze River basin.

Chapter V

Ecological and Environment Restoration

Article 52 The State shall carry out systematic governance of the ecosystem of the Yangtze River basin based on natural restoration and combining natural restoration with artificial restoration. The department of natural resources under the State Council shall, in conjunction with other relevant departments under the State Council, formulate plans for ecological and environmental restoration in the Yangtze River basin, organize the implementation of major ecological and environmental restoration projects, and coordinate various ecological and environmental restoration work in the Yangtze River basin.

Article 53 The State shall exercise strict fishing control over the key waters of the Yangtze River basin. Productive fishing shall be completely banned in the reserves of Yangtze River basin aquatic life; within the time limit set by the State, productive fishing of natural fishery resources shall be completely banned in key water areas such as the main stream and major tributaries of the Yangtze River, large lakes connecting the Yangtze River and designated areas in the Yangtze River estuary. Specific measures shall be formulated by the agricultural and rural affairs department under the State Council in conjunction with other relevant departments under the State Council.

The agricultural and rural affairs department under the State Council shall, together with the relevant departments under the State Council and provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin, strengthen the law enforcement of the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River basin, and strictly investigate and punish fishing practices that damage fishery resources and the ecology and environment, such as electrocuting, poisoning fish, and blast fishing.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall, in accordance with the relevant national regulations, make good efforts in compensating fishermen who have quit fishing in key waters of the Yangtze River basin, helping them find new jobs and ensuring their social security.

Measures for the administration of banning or limiting fishing in other waters in the Yangtze River basin shall be formulated by the local people's governments at or above the county level.

Article 54 The water resources department under the State Council shall, in conjunction with the relevant departments under the State Council, formulate and organize the implementation of the plan for the restoration of the connectivity of the river and lake systems of the Yangtze River's main stream and important tributaries. The provincial-level people's governments in the Yangtze River basin shall formulate and organize the implementation of plans for the restoration of the connectivity of the river and lake systems in their respective administrative areas to gradually improve the connectivity of the rivers and lakes in the Yangtze River basin, restore the ecological flow of the rivers and lakes, and maintain the ecological functions of the river and lake systems.

Article 55 The National Yangtze River Basin Coordination Mechanism shall coordinate the natural resources, water resources, ecology and environment, housing and urban-rural development, agriculture and rural affairs, transport, and forestry and grassland departments under the State Council and the provincial people's governments in the Yangtze River basin in formulating norms for river and lake shoreline restoration and defining indicators for shoreline restoration of the Yangtze River basin.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall formulate and organize the implementation of river and lake shoreline restoration plans in accordance with the protection plans, norms and indicators for river and lake shoreline restoration in the Yangtze River basin, so as to ensure the proportion of natural shorelines and restore the ecological functions of river and lake shorelines.

Illegal use or occupation of the river and lake shorelines in the Yangtze River basin shall be prohibited.

Article 56 The relevant departments under the State Council shall, in conjunction with relevant people's governments at the provincial level in the Yangtze River basin, strengthen the protection and restoration of the ecology and environment in the riparian zones in key reservoir areas such as the Three Gorges Reservoir and Danjiangkou Reservoir areas, allow more marginal farmland to return to forest, grassland, and wetland in accordance with local conditions, forbid the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, control the water level of reservoirs in a scientific way, strengthen water and soil conservation and prevention and control of geological disasters in reservoir areas, and ensure the good ecological functions of riparian zones.

Article 57 The forestry and grassland departments of the local people's governments in the Yangtze River basin at or above the county level shall organize the implementation of the plans for the restoration of forests, grasslands, and wetlands in the Yangtze River basin, promote their restoration in a scientific way, and intensify efforts to restore degraded natural forests, grasslands, and damaged wetlands.

Article 58 The State shall increase its support for ecological and environmental restoration in key lakes such as Taihu, Poyang, Dongting, Chao and Dianchi.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall organize the ecological and environmental restoration of eutrophic lakes, and take comprehensive measures such as adjusting the industrial distribution and scale, ensuring the unified operation of controlled water projects, ecological water replenishment, and river-lake connectivity, so as to improve and restore the quality and function of the lake ecosystem. For the lakes with nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations seriously exceeding the standards, these governments shall take measures to thoroughly clean up aquaculture using baits and fertilizers in catchment areas affecting lake water quality by reducing the amount of chemical fertilizers and prohibiting the use of phosphorous detergents.

Article 59 The departments of forestry and grassland, and agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council shall formulate restoration and action plans for wild animals and plants whose population has dropped sharply or that are critically endangered in the Yangtze River basin, severely damaged habitats, natural concentrated distribution areas, and fragmented typical ecosystems. These departments shall build ex situ conservation facilities, establish a gene bank of wild animal and plant genetic resources, and conduct rescue restoration.

Ecological and environmental restoration and other protection measures shall be carried out in important habitats such as spawning grounds, feeding grounds, overwintering grounds, and migration channels for aquatic organisms in the Yangtze River basin. For the water-related projects that are obstructing the migration of aquatic organisms such as fish, various measures shall be taken to fully meet the ecological needs of aquatic organisms, such as the construction of fish passing facilities, the connection of rivers and lakes, ecological regulation, stocking lakes with river fry, gene preservation, multiplication and release, and artificial breeding.

Article 60 The water resources department under the State Council shall, in conjunction with the relevant departments under the State Council and the local people's government in the Yangtze River estuary, formulate and implement plans for ecological and environmental restoration in the Yangtze River estuary and other protection measures in accordance with the requirements of land-sea coordination and river-sea linkage, strengthen comprehensive water, sand, salt, tidal flat, and biological population monitoring, take effective measures to prevent seawater intrusion and backflow, and maintain the good ecological functions of the Yangtze River estuary.

Article 61 The local people's governments at or above the county level in the key prevention and control areas of soil erosion in the Yangtze River basin shall take measures to prevent and control soil erosion. For soil and water loss plots within the ecological protection redlines, high priority shall be given to natural restoration, and marginal farmland shall be returned to forest, grassland, and wetland in a planned way in accordance with regulations. The permanent basic farmland included in the core protected areas of nature reserves shall be removed and rezoned in an orderly manner and in accordance with the law.

It is prohibited to carry out production and construction activities that may cause soil erosion in areas in the Yangtze River basin where soil erosion is serious and the ecology is fragile. If construction must be carried out in accordance with the national development strategy to meet the needs of the economy and people's livelihood, it shall be scientifically demonstrated and the examination and approval procedures shall be gone through in accordance with the law.

The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall take comprehensive measures to control stony desertification in light of local conditions, restore the ecosystem and prevent the spread of stony desertification.

Article 62 The local people's governments at or above the county level in the Yangtze River basin shall adjust measures to local conditions to eliminate hidden geological hazards, reclaim land, restore vegetation, and prevent and control pollution in order to speed up the solution to the longstanding problem of ecological and environmental restoration of mines, strengthen the supervision and management of construction and operation of the mines, and urge mining rights holders to earnestly fulfill their responsibilities for mine pollution prevention and control and ecological and environmental restoration.

Article 63 The local people's governments at or above the county level in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin shall, in light of local conditions, provide support for the implementation of ecological and environmental restoration and other protection measures in the sources and upper reaches of rivers in the Yangtze River basin in terms of projects, funds, talents, and management, to enhance the capacity of ecologically fragile areas in the Yangtze River basin to restore the ecology and environment and carry out other protection measures.

In accordance with the principles of policy support, participation of enterprises and the public and market-based operation, the State encourages private capital to be invested in ecological and environmental restoration in the Yangtze River basin.