9.2 Institutional Arrangements
207
After 2018, the river basin eco-environmental supervision and management
bureau was set up based on the river basin water resources protection bureau, which
is in charge of eco-environmental supervision and management of water resources,
water ecological systems, and water environments. Responsibilities of this entity
include (given the Yangtze River basin as an example) the following
4 :
• Organizing to formulate and supervising the implementation of the river basin
ecological and environmental plan, water function zoning and participating in the
formulation of ecological protection compensation schemes.
• Proposing river basin pollutant loading capacities for water function zones and
suggestions on pollutant discharge limits.
• Establishing supervision and management of the approval consultation mechanisms for major plans, standards, EIA documents, and pollution discharge permits
with trans-provincial impacts.
• Participating in and undertaking post-approval supervision of EIA document
review for river basin water-related plans and major construction projects.
• Guiding the setting of discharge outlet into water body in the river basin; and
undertaking the approval, supervision, and management of setting of discharge
outlet into water body within authorization.
• Guiding and coordinating the ecological and environmental protection, water
ecological protection and groundwater pollution control works of drinking water
source in the river basin.
• Organizing to carry out ecological and environmental supervision, and ecological
flow and volume supervision of river, lake, and shoreline development; participating in guiding and coordinating the implementation of river and lake chief
system, river, and lake water ecological protection and restoration.
• Carrying out river basin ecological environmental monitoring, scientific research,
information technology development, and information releases.
• Drafting river basin ecological and environmental policies, laws, regulations,
standards, technical specifications, and contingency plans for ecological environmental emergencies and the like.
• Undertaking river basin ecological and environmental law enforcement, investigating major ecological and environmental cases, mediating major water pollution
disputes, and coordinating emergency disposal of major water pollution.
At the local levels, with priorities changing from traditional irrigation to urban
water supply and wastewater treatment, MWR tried to promote a management reform
for integrated urban and rural water issues after the 1990s. The reform aimed to
establish a water affairs bureau (WAB) or to increase the functions of the water
resources bureau (WRB) by incorporating part or all of the responsibilities related
to resources management, service regulation, and environment management from
other agencies (Shen and Liu 2010). Under this reform, part or all water quality
management functions in environmental protection bureaus (EPB) and the bureau of
housing and urban–rural development were merged into WAB or WRB. After several
4 https://cjjg.mee.gov.cn/dwgk/zyzz/.
207
After 2018, the river basin eco-environmental supervision and management
bureau was set up based on the river basin water resources protection bureau, which
is in charge of eco-environmental supervision and management of water resources,
water ecological systems, and water environments. Responsibilities of this entity
include (given the Yangtze River basin as an example) the following
4 :
• Organizing to formulate and supervising the implementation of the river basin
ecological and environmental plan, water function zoning and participating in the
formulation of ecological protection compensation schemes.
• Proposing river basin pollutant loading capacities for water function zones and
suggestions on pollutant discharge limits.
• Establishing supervision and management of the approval consultation mechanisms for major plans, standards, EIA documents, and pollution discharge permits
with trans-provincial impacts.
• Participating in and undertaking post-approval supervision of EIA document
review for river basin water-related plans and major construction projects.
• Guiding the setting of discharge outlet into water body in the river basin; and
undertaking the approval, supervision, and management of setting of discharge
outlet into water body within authorization.
• Guiding and coordinating the ecological and environmental protection, water
ecological protection and groundwater pollution control works of drinking water
source in the river basin.
• Organizing to carry out ecological and environmental supervision, and ecological
flow and volume supervision of river, lake, and shoreline development; participating in guiding and coordinating the implementation of river and lake chief
system, river, and lake water ecological protection and restoration.
• Carrying out river basin ecological environmental monitoring, scientific research,
information technology development, and information releases.
• Drafting river basin ecological and environmental policies, laws, regulations,
standards, technical specifications, and contingency plans for ecological environmental emergencies and the like.
• Undertaking river basin ecological and environmental law enforcement, investigating major ecological and environmental cases, mediating major water pollution
disputes, and coordinating emergency disposal of major water pollution.
At the local levels, with priorities changing from traditional irrigation to urban
water supply and wastewater treatment, MWR tried to promote a management reform
for integrated urban and rural water issues after the 1990s. The reform aimed to
establish a water affairs bureau (WAB) or to increase the functions of the water
resources bureau (WRB) by incorporating part or all of the responsibilities related
to resources management, service regulation, and environment management from
other agencies (Shen and Liu 2010). Under this reform, part or all water quality
management functions in environmental protection bureaus (EPB) and the bureau of
housing and urban–rural development were merged into WAB or WRB. After several
4 https://cjjg.mee.gov.cn/dwgk/zyzz/.