River chief system to cover whole China by June

---There have been about 320,000 river chiefs in China's four-level river chief system down to the township level, said Chen Lei, minister of water resources, on the Minister sidelines of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress, on 9th March.


While the system had been established in 25 provincial regions by the end of last year, all the other regions will have their river chief system by June.

The ministry organized three inspections that covered more than 1,000 prefecture-level cities last year to ensure the establishment of the system and more inspections will be launched, he said on the sidelines of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress.

The central authorities decided in late 2016 to establish a river chief system in the country to enhance river protection and then asked establishment of a lake chief system across the country late last year.

Chen said the lake chief system has been established in 2,180 lakes and will be extended to all lakes in the country by the end of this year.

China may witness more typhoons and be troubled by flood and drought simultaneously this year, stated Chen Lei.

"With global warming, there has been more and more extreme weather in recent years," said Chen, citing the floods that happened in the past two years in Yangtze River, the country's longest, and Taihu Lake.

He said meteorological forecast has showed that China may face more extreme weather than normal years again this year. More typhoons will form and make landfalls in the country and may bring more serious effects, he said.

While flood is expected to strike Yangtze and Zhujiang rivers and Taihu Lake in southern China and Yellow, Haihe and Liaohe rivers in the northern part, drought may happen in regions such as western part of Northeast China in the coming summer.

He said the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters will hold its first conference to make preparations for the extreme weather this year and great effort will be made to reduce losses to the public.

(Source: China Daily)