Hubei province contains abundant freshwater resources, including more than 1,000 km of the Yangtze River. It supplies water to many northern regions under the massive south-to-north water diversion project.
This Regulation aims to prevent and control water pollution, protect and improve the water environment, ensure water security and promote sustainable economic and social development. The text consists of 8 Chapters divided into 81 Articles: General Provisions (I); Government Responsibilities (II); Prevention of Water Pollution (III); Control of Water Pollution (VI); Supervision and Emergency Response (V); Information Disclosure and Public Participation (VI); Legal Liability (VII); Supplementary Provisions (VIII).
The people's governments at or above county level shall formulate water pollution prevent and control plans. Where the national water pollutant discharge standards are not covered, the provincial people's government shall, according to the national water quality standard, water pollutant discharge standards and the province main basin water environment situation and economic and technical conditions, establish the provincial standards. For environmentally sensitive areas, ecologically fragile areas, and regions lack of water environmental capacity, the provincial government shall develop local water pollutant discharge standards more stringent than the national standards, and implement the total water pollutant discharge control. Water environment ecological compensation mechanism shall be established and improved for drinking water source protection areas and upstream areas of rivers, lakes, reservoirs and key ecological function areas.
The Regulation includes a strict accountability system for government officials and punishments for polluting enterprises. Protection of water resources shall be an important standard for evaluating performance of local officials. Polluters shall be subject to daily fines until they take measures to address the problem.