System to protect water extended across country

China has extended its river and lake chief system across the country as scheduled and the system has played a significant role in helping improve water quality in many regions, said China's top water resources watchdog.

As of the end of 2018, there had been almost 1.3 million river and lake chiefs across the country. Among them, 60 are Party chiefs or governors of provincial regions, said the Ministry of Water Resources in a statement, responding to questions from China Daily.

While more than 300,000 river chiefs from provincial to township level have been in position across the country, some areas have extended the system even further by appointing 930,000 of the chiefs at village level, which is not required by the central authorities.