City taps water to improve life quality

When night falls, many Chengdu residents jog along the banks of Jincheng Lake, one of the city's picturesque lakes that is considered part of its "ecological infrastructure".

Renowned for its laidback lifestyle, the Chengdu municipal Party committee and government are now developing an ecological green belt surrounding the downtown area, as it tries to offer more options for relaxation and exercise.

Jincheng Park, in which Jincheng Lake is located, is one of six wetland parks in the city. It has long been a popular destination for residents and visitors to go to on weekends and holidays.

A new way to enjoy the city's scenic beauty while keeping fit, night jogging has become popular with city dwellers, and many people jog in groups. Many of the night jogging groups in Chengdu choose Jincheng Lake as their destination.

Liang Yun, operating director at Codoon, a Chengdu-based technology company that created the country's largest sports community app, said Jincheng Lake has a lot of plants along it and the air there is very clean, which he said may be the biggest charm for joggers.

The ancient Dujiangyan Irrigation System in Chengdu's county-level city of Dujiangyan is another business card for the city following giant pandas that Chengdu is famed for. In the city's history, water was an important element and made the city prosper.

Chengdu has extensive water systems running across the city with many ancient bridges above. During ancient times, there were also entertainment facilities and cotton workshops along the rivers, making water a very important part of people's everyday lives.

Today, the city draws inspiration from its history and also utilizes its waterways and other natural resources to restructure its urban development.

With its "Ecological Area Around the City" project, Chengdu gives new meaning to the country's long-term initiative of ecological civilization. In Chengdu, the development of ecological civilization is a reform of people's production and life modes, as well as the values of modern life.

The city started working on the project in 2012. The initial idea was to develop ecological resources as if they are infrastructure. The ecological area will be a green belt surrounding the downtown area.

The renowned water history and culture of Chengdu includes how the city's residents made good use of the water. According to experts, the city's landscape makes it unsuitable to store water well or for floodwaters to easily drain. When devising the project, the city therefore took water storage and flood treatment into consideration. The ecological area also serves as a model for other regions in the city, such as Tianfu New Area and Shuangliu county. These regions have also started to work on improving their ecology.

In 2013, the Ministry of Water Resources listed Chengdu as one of the first group of pilot cities for water ecological civilization development.

The ecological area project is just one part of Chengdu's water ecological civilization development.

According to an official from the city's Water Authority, there will be other projects including protective facilities for waterways and ecological landscape areas.

Ecological projects, wetland development in particular, have brought social and environmental benefits to the city.

The Xinglong Lake ecological greenbelt, for example, had a total investment of 9.2 billion yuan ($1.48 billion), with a water area of 300 hectares. It has improved the water and air quality of the area.

The city government plan for green space development states that Chengdu will build or expand wetlands across the city, the largest to be in the ecological area surrounding the downtown area and covering 17 sq km.

Gu Yang, director of the city's Wetlands Protection Center, said that wetland parks in the downtown area bring nature to residents' doorways, which may increase their happiness.

fuchao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/25/2015 page10)