Guiyang revitalizes Guancheng River in Yunyan

In the early summer season, many residents of Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, stroll along the banks of the Guancheng River.

At the beginning of 2024, after a comprehensive nine-year restoration effort, the Guancheng River in the city's Yunyan district resurfaced from under its cover.

The Guancheng River, often referred to as the mother river of Guiyang's old city, originates from Tangjia Mountain in the northern suburbs of Guiyang. It runs from north to south through the old city area, serving as the city's true axis.

Currently, many residents stroll along the Guancheng River in Yunyan district. [Photo/Guiyang news network]

Since the 1960s, with urban development and population growth, Guiyang had covered the river in order to construct air-raid shelters over it. Eventually, approximately 80 percent of the core section of the Guancheng River was covered to establish parking lots, green landscapes, and other structures.

The Guancheng River gradually transformed into a rainwater and sewage mixed drainage ditch that lacked purification, ecological, and scenic functions. The river lost its health, and its water quality deteriorated to Class V.

In recent years, Guiyang has undertaken the task of restoring the Guancheng River through the river chief system. By implementing measures such as separating rainwater and sewage, controlling and intercepting pollution at the source, and dredging the river channel, the city has strengthened the restoration of the river's ecosystem.

Additionally, the construction of two new water recycling plants, the Guiyi and Liuguangmen plants, can supply 100,000 to 130,000 cubic meters of water per day to the Guancheng River basin, revitalizing the river that had been dry for nearly 20 years.

In 2021, the river's water quality stabilized at Class IV, transitioning gradually from a polluted and odorous water body to a high-quality water body.