China's top legislature has adopted a revision of the Water Law to strengthen the management and protection of rivers and lakes, with the revised law set to take effect on March 22, 2027.
The revised law was approved at the 25th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress. According to a news release from the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, the revision adds a new chapter on the management and protection of rivers and lakes.
The move comes as shortcomings remain in river and lake protection, with illegal occupation, extraction, dumping, and construction still occurring in some areas, the release noted.
Some embankments, forests, and tall-stem crops have encroached on river and lake waters and shorelines, affecting flood-control safety, it said. In some localities, the water-flow requirements necessary for local ecosystems remain difficult to satisfy on a consistent basis, damaging the ecological functions of rivers and lakes.
The new chapter improves relevant governance rules by establishing a system for regular surveys of rivers and lakes and introducing catalogue-based management, the release continued. It also specifies requirements for delineating river and lake management areas and shoreline protection areas, while strengthening safeguards for ecological water use.
The chapter, for instance, stipulates that management areas shall be delineated for rivers and lakes. For rivers and lakes with embankments, the management area will cover the waters, sandbars, beaches between the two banks, as well as embankments and embankment protection land. For those without embankments, it will cover the waters, sandbars, and beaches between the historical maximum flood level or the flood water level that a project is designed to withstand.
For rivers and lakes directly managed by river basin management authorities, the relevant management areas will be delineated by those authorities in coordination with county-level or higher-level local governments. Management areas for other rivers and lakes will be delineated by the relevant county-level or higher-level local governments. The boundaries must be made public and marked with signs on the ground.
The chapter prohibits the illegal occupation, unlawful use of or unauthorized construction in river and lake waters, and along their shorelines. It also bans the creation of land by enclosing lakes, the reclamation of river channels, and the filling in of rivers and lakes. For areas that have already been occupied or reclaimed, county-level and higher-level local governments are required to organize, in a planned manner, the restoration of land to rivers and lakes.
The new chapter also requires the use of land within river and lake management areas to comply with flood discharge, water conveyance, and ecological and environmental protection requirements. No new forestland or farmland may be added within such management areas. Where existing forestland or farmland affects flood-control safety, local provincial-level governments must lawfully organize its adjustment and orderly withdrawal.
The release said the revised law also requires ecological water-use scheduling to be incorporated into the daily operation of water projects and calls for comprehensive treatment and ecological restoration in rivers and lakes whose ecosystems have deteriorated.
The measures are intended to help address illegal and disorderly development around rivers and lakes and advance the goal of building healthy waterways featuring clear water, green banks, and thriving aquatic life, it added.
