An aerial view of the Jiaxiu Pavilion section of the Nanming River. [Photo/Visual China]

Guizhou province announced the first batch of beautiful and blissful rivers and lakes in the province on Aug 15, the first National Ecology Day. The Nanming River in Guiyang, capital of the province, was included in the list.

The Nanming River is the city's "mother river" and a significant tributary of the upper Yangtze River. By the end of the 20th century, with the rapid advancement of industrialization and urbanization, a considerable amount of domestic and industrial wastewater was directly discharged into the river.

This caused it to shift from being a drinking water source for residents to being classified as Grade V water quality.

Since 2012, Guiyang has made every effort to promote the comprehensive management of the river.

Those efforts have paid off. Twenty-five areas in the river basin with black and malodorous water have been completely eliminated. The Guancheng River, which had been dry for nearly 20 years, has regained vitality, and the water quality of seven major tributaries now meet the required standards.

In 2022, the ecological flow compliance rate at two hydrological stations along the Nanming River reached 100 percent, and there are now 22 species of fish. Additionally, 49 benthic organisms, 140 wetland plant species, and 163 algae species have been identified.

The successful management of the Nanming River has enabled Guiyang to achieve several national firsts: the first city to successfully implement a segmented sewage treatment approach in a karst landscape and to construct a distributed subsurface sewage treatment ecosystem.

These accomplishments provide valuable experience for breaking the cycle of repeated and ineffective watershed management in karst regions.