Recently, the Hehu Changhu Office of Hubei Province issued the “Guiding Opinions on Implementing the River and Lake Long System in Small and Micro Waters” to incorporate the small and micro water bodies into the long-term management of rivers and lakes, and to build a long-term management and treatment mechanism.

The 'Opinions' clarify that each city and state should adapt to the small rivers of the rivers and lakes, such as the Qiangtang, Shantang, Zhigou and Bihe, which have the functions of water transportation, water storage and drainage. All localities should use the county (urban area) as a unit to fully understand the quantity and distribution of small and micro water bodies, establish a list of small and micro water bodies, and form a “one village (residence) account”. Before September of this year, comprehensively establish a small Micro-water body basic file. The small micro-water body rivers and lakes are set up. The official rivers and lakes can be set up according to the river basin and regional settings. The township (street) and village (community) heads are “packaged”; the folk river lakes can be owned by the water bodies of fish ponds, ditches and other water bodies. The user will claim and set up a cleaning staff. By the end of this year, a long system of small and micro-water rivers and lakes will be built.

In terms of measures, all counties (urban areas) must adhere to the problem orientation, and be responsible for formulating small and micro water body remediation plans and organizing implementation. The small micro-water body protection is mainly based on territories. The rural areas are led by townships and towns. The villages are the units, and the daily management and maintenance personnel of small and micro water bodies are implemented. The towns are managed and protected by the streets and communities where they are located. By the end of 2020, the task of remediation of small and micro-water bodies in urban areas will be basically completed, more than 60% of the tasks of remediation of small and micro-water bodies in rural areas will be completed, and a long-term management and protection mechanism with a long river and lake system as the core will be established. Before the end of 2021, the remediation of small and micro-water bodies will be phased. The results have basically achieved the goal of “three nos” in small and micro water bodies (no direct discharge of sewage, no floating objects on the surface of the water, no garbage on the shore).

In order to ensure the smooth implementation of small and micro water body remediation, the 'Opinions' clearly incorporates the management of small and micro water bodies into the rivers and lakes long-term target responsibility assessment, and requires the local authorities to implement the main responsibility. The rivers and lakes at all levels must regularly and irregularly treat small and micro water bodies. Governance is conducted for inspection.