New media helps solve old problem

A number of local governments in Zhejiang province, East China, have turned to new-media channels to help river chiefs fulfill their environmental protection duties and facilitate public supervision.

In August, the government of Shaoxing, a city in the province, developed an app to help its 5,300 river chiefs carry out their work. They log onto the app when they start patrolling and log out when they finish, making it easy to assess their work because the app shows the areas they have visited.

In Zhejiang, city-level river chiefs have to patrol the section of river under their control at least once a month, although the number rises to four for village-level chiefs.