This photo taken on August 8, 2024 shows an ecological restoration initiative in the Mashan section of Taihu Lake in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province. (CFP)

Jiangsu Province received the "Excellence" rating again during the 2023 implementation assessment of the strictest water resources management system, according to the province’s Water Resources Department on August 20.

This marked Jiangsu’s 10th consecutive “Excellence” rating since the State Council initiated the assessment in 2013, making it the only province in China to reach this milestone.

In 2023, Jiangsu enhanced its water resources management to become more systematic and standardized. The effective utilization coefficient of farmland water irrigation rose to 0.622, and the water quality compliance rate in key functional zones at the national level reached 90.8%, fully meeting assessment targets.

Jiangsu organized water dispatching operations in its key rivers and lakes and maintained online monitoring of 239 large and medium-sized irrigation areas. It involved third parties in spot checks on water measuring instrument as part of the efforts to comprehensively enhance management capabilities at the grassroots level.

Progress was also made in innovating the “river chief” system, with a stable increase in the proportion of ecological shorelines along the Yangtze River. Among the province’s key rivers and lakes, 89.1% showed good ecological quality.