Yang Mei

Yangmei_szdaily@163.com

EVER since Deng Zhiwei and 44 other volunteers, were officially appointed as the first batch of grassroots-level “hezhang,” or river chiefs, June 3, after two months of training, they have been dedicating most of their time to battling water pollution and restoring the environment.

To echo the Central Government’s 2007 decision to appoint local heads of government as river chiefs, the Shenzhen Spring Environmental Protection Volunteer Association (SENGO) and the Shenzhen Evening News jointly initiated the “Grassroots River Chiefs Mechanism of Shenzhen” on March 22, World Water Day, in a bid to get more ordinary citizens involved in supervising and reporting on the condition of the waterways and supporting the work of the government-level river chiefs.

Deng has been living in Longhua District for nearly 30 years and has over 20 years of experience volunteering to work on environmental protection. Based on the principle of proximity to the river chiefs mechanism, Deng is mainly in charge of the four tributaries of the Longhua River that are nearest to his home.

According to Deng, before he undertook this job, he needed to pay field visits to riverheads and familiarize himself with the situation surrounding the river. As a grassroots river chief, his main job is to observe daily changes in the river and report any problems to SENGO who will then make reports to the relevant departments. Apart from his role as an observer, Deng is also a supervisor. “If I find anyone dumping waste into the river or doing anything that might do harm to the water, I will stop them immediately and educate them on water protection,” Deng said, adding that people understand his job and show him great support.

Actions speak louder than words. Deng sets a good example with his concrete deeds. He often takes students of the Southern University of Science and Technology to the river to clear away app-based bikes that have flowed into the riverway after a heavy rain, as the bikes might block the riverway or create potential hazards for people near the river.

Thanks to the efforts of Deng, and many others, the quality of the river has been improving over the past three to five months, according to Deng. “On dry days, the river in Longhua Park is not as dark and smelly as before,” Deng said.

Liu Dongliu, another river chief, joined SENGO and became a volunteer because he is determined to help improve the polluted waters. “I grew up in a village in Guangdong Province where the rivers were so clear that fish and shrimp could be seen swimming underneath. But when I first came to Shenzhen in 1996, and I saw the polluted rivers, I was heartbroken,” Liu recalled.

Currently Liu’s focus is on monitoring the Buji River, Futian River and Xinzhou River. He said he has learned a lot about the rivers and his responsibility for safeguarding the rivers has given him a strong sense of purpose.

According to Zhu Zhu, general sectary of SENGO, the implementation of the “Official River Chiefs Mechanism” in Shenzhen generally follows those in other cities, however, at the grassroots level, people are very excited to become river chiefs, so the grassroots river chiefs mechanism is proving to be effective.

“When we would find problems before, we could do nothing but call 12369, the environmental protection hotline. With the participation of grassroots river chiefs, people can report problems directly to us and we can communicate with the governmental departments, so the process is much more efficient,” Zhu said.