Since 2016, the 147 rivers in Guangzhou have been cleaned and the water quality in 13 monitoring sections met national and provincial assessment requirements.

The water quality has been significantly improved not only because of the effective remediation measures, but also the river chiefs in Tianhe district.

The plan of cleaning up heavily-polluted rivers in Guangzhou was issued in July 2018, which brought more strict annual water harnessing tasks for Tianhe and moved forward the deadline from the end of 2019 to the end of 2018.

The lush Liede River in Tianhe. [Photo/thnet.gov.cn]

Li Chunzhao, then director of the Tianhe water authority, worked a day and night with his colleagues on the front lines to harness the 18 heavily-polluted rivers in Tianhe district.

"Although the task is large and time is limited, the strong support of my leaders and colleagues helped keep me motivate," said Li.

He added that he felt that no matter how hard things got, it was all worth it when seeing the gradual improvement of the water quality.

He Hong, head of the Tianhe water sanitation office, leads a team to inspect rivers in Tianhe every day in order to find and deal with problems in time.

A man cleans the Chebei River in Tianhe. [Photo/thnet.gov.cn]

"Walking more than 20,000 steps a day is just normal," said He. "There are so many sections that need inspected. If I'm not fast, I can't finish."

Under He's leadership, the Tianhe water sanitation office, which is mainly responsible for the cleaning of the dikes, water surfaces and beaches within guardrails, scored 98 points in the year-end performance assessment.

Many achievements have been made in the cleaning of rivers in Tianhe thanks to people like Li and He. The treatment methods and experience of the Liede River in Tianhe were recognized by the province and national ministries.