Renaud Jacques from France has been committed to his new part-time as the first foreign river chief in Zhangpu Town of Kunshan since last December.

The river chief system means to assign each waterway in the country a specific steward, who is tasked with resource protection, pollution prevention and control, and ecological restoration.

The manager from Diam Display Equipment Kunshan, a manufacture of display case for cosmetics, has lived and worked in China for 13 years. He chose to settle in Kunshan three years ago.

As the river chief, he checked water quality in a river along Binjiang Road on June 4 for the first time this month. The heavy rain several days ago left piles of leaves and plants on the waterway.

Renaud Jacques checks the rainwater pipe to make sure it is dry.

His responsibilities include checking whether there is garbage, floating objects on the river surface, and illegal sewage discharge. Any problem that affect water quality will be immediately reported with pictures as proof.

He also said a small river in his hometown, Strasbourg in northeastern France, also suffered from pollution because of pollution discharge and then the river chief system helped get the river clean again.

He is confident to get his job done well as a river chief now in China. Though busy with the extension project of his company, he has never neglected his duties, calling Kunshan his home.

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