Freshwater environment

According to The 2019 Report on the State of the Ecology and Environment in China issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the quality of China's freshwater environment is as follows:

Surface waters

In 2019, there were 1,931 surface water sections (sites) under national monitoring program, among which water sections (sites) meeting Grade I-III water quality standards took up 74.9 percent, up by 3.9 percentage points compared with that of 2018; sections that are inferior to Grade V standard took up 3.4 percent, down by 3.3 percentage points compared with that of 2018. The major pollution indicators were chemical oxygen demand (COD), total phosphorus (TP) and permanganate index.

River

In 2019, out of the 1,610 water sections under national monitoring program in 7 big river basins of the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Pearl River, Songhua River, Huaihe River, Haihe River and Liaohe River as well as rivers in Zhejiang and Fujian, rivers in northwestern and southwestern parts of China, the water sections of Grade I-III standards took up 79.1 percent, up by 4.8 percentage points compared with that of 2018; water sections inferior to Grade V standard took up 3.0 percent, down by 3.9 percentage points compared with that of 2018; The major pollution indicators were COD, permanganate index and ammonia nitrogen.

Rivers in northwest China, Zhejiang and Fujia region and southwest China and river basins of the Yangtze River were of excellent quality. The water quality of Pearl River was fairly good, and that of the Yellow River, Songhua River, Huaihe River, Liaohe River and Haihe River was slightly polluted.

Lakes (reservoirs)

In 2019, among 110 major lakes (reservoirs) across the country under the national monitoring program, 69.1 percent met Grade I-III standards, up by 2.4 percentage points compared with that of 2018; 7.3 percent were inferior to Grade V standard, down by 0.8 percentage point compared with that of 2018. The major pollution indicators were TP, COD and permanganate index.

In the 107 lakes (reservoirs) under the monitoring of nutritional status, 9.3 percent were under oligotrophic status; 62.6 percent were under mesotrophic status; 22.4 percent were under slight eutrophication, and 5.6 percent were under intermediate eutrophication.

Water bodies of key water conservancy projects

The Three Gorges Reservoir area In 2019, the water quality of the Three Gorges Reservoir area was of excellent quality, and that of the 38 main tributaries of the Yangtze River flowing into Three Gorges Reservoir area were also excellent in terms of water quality. Among the 77 sections under water quality monitoring, sections meeting Grade I-III standard took up 98.7 percent, up by 2.6 percentage points compared with that of 2018; sections meeting Grade IV standard took up 1.3 percent, down by 2.6 percentage points compared with that of 2018. No section met Grade V or failed to meet Grade V, being the same as 2018. Indicators like TP and COD exceeded relevant standard with the ratio of such sections taking up both 1.3 percent of the total. The comprehensive trophic state index of 77 monitoring sections was within the range of 24.5-60.9, among which 1.3 percent were under oligotrophic state, 77.9 percent under mesotrophic state, and 20.8 percent under eutrophic status.

South-North Water Diversion Project (East Route) The intake of the Yangtze River was of excellent quality. The water quality of the Liyun section, Baoying section, Suqian section, Bulao section, Hanzhuang section, and Liangji section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal were all excellent and good. In specific, the Baoying section, Suqian section, Hanzhuang section, and Liangji section are the diversion sections of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal during the period of water diversion. The Nansi Lake and Dongping Lake were under mesotrophic status, and Hongze Lake and Luoma Lake were under light eutrophication.

South-North Water Diversion Project (Central Route) The water quality of the intake was excellent and that of the transferring lines was also excellent. All nine tributaries flowing into the Danjiangkou Reservoir were of excellent and good water quality, and Danjiangkou Reservoir was of mesotrophic status