By the end of 2020, Sichuan will finish delimiting the boundaries for the management of lakes with a drainage area of more than 50km2 and ponds with a surface area of more than 1km2. On that basis, we will clarify the management duties assumed by relevant departments for the protection of rivers and ponds. On October 10th, the reporter learnt from the Long-Term Work of Rivers (Ponds) and the Work Promotion Conference for the Management and Protection of Rivers and Ponds that the demarcation of the boundaries of rivers and ponds in our province will be launched across the board.

　　At the beginning of last year and of this year, Sichuan has successively launched the system of the river chief and pond chief. At present, nearly 90,000 river (pond) chiefs at all levels in the province have been appointed, and the river (pond) system consisted of five levels, namely provincial, city, county, town and village level, has been basically established. In this way, most rivers and ponds have been appointed "responsible persons" compared to the situation that "no one is in charge before". However, due to the fact that the waterfronts and shorelines of rivers and ponds as well as the boundaries for water body control of rivers and ponds have not yet been fully clarified, difficulties abound for local governments to promote works related to the governance and protection of rivers and ponds.

　　The meeting requested that with the demarcation work, all localities should not only be clear of "the boundaries of rivers and ponds" but also perform a comprehensive "physical examination" for "the waters within these boundaries". In particular, it is necessary to use the demarcation work to know more about the information related to the development and utilization of the shoreline of rivers and ponds, their basic conditions of protection, and the ownership, location, and characteristic parameters of various types of river-related construction projects. And we should clarify the main bodies for the approval, construction and supervision of river-related construction projects, so as to lay a solid foundation for managing rivers and ponds in the future.

　　As a province bestowed with “Thousands of Rivers”, Sichuan boasts 2,816 rivers with a drainage area of more than 50km2, and the total length of river banks has exceeded 200,000km.