AerialphototakenonJune11,2018showsasceneryoftheTaihuLakeinSuzhoucity,EastChina'sJiangsuprovince.[Photo/Xinhua]

ImprovementstofloodcontrolandwaterqualitywillbetwokeytasksforprovincesintheYangtzeRiverDeltainthenextthreetofiveyears,accordingtoadraftplandiscussedbywaterresourcesofficialsonTuesday.

TheactionplanregardingcoordinatedmanagementofwaterresourcesintheTaihubasinwaspresentedtoofficialsfromJiangsu,ZhejiangandAnhuiprovincesaswellastheShanghaimunicipalityduringasymposiumheldbytheTaihuBasinAuthorityofMinistryofWaterResources.

Thedraft,whichproposed50keytaskstobecompletedinthecomingthreetofiveyears,includeanumberofwaterengineeringprojectsaimedatsolvingtheweakpointsinfloodcontrolwhichwereexposedduringthisyear's42day"plumrain"season.HeavyrainfallhadcausedthewaterlevelsinTaihuLaketohit4.79meters,thethirdhighestsince1954,resultinginmajorfloodsinitstributaries.

Accordingtothedraft,theTaihuBasinAuthoritywillspeeduptheconstructionofthedamaroundthelaketoenhancefloodabsorptioncapacity,andacceleratethedredgingandwideningofWusongRiver,TaipuRiverandWangyuRivertoincreasefloodcarryingcapacity.

Inadditiontoanumberofdamenlargementandriverlinkageprojects,thedraftproposestheimprovementoffloodcontrolcapacityofthebasin'sindependentriversthroughcomprehensivehydraulicengineering.

TheauthorityisalsoplanningtoenhancecoordinationamongdifferentprovincesintermsofmonitoringthewaterqualityofriversflowinginandoutoftheTaihuLakesoastodealwithmajorproblemssuchastheincreasingblue-greenalgaebloominTaihuLake.

AccordingtotheTaihuBasinAuthority,thelake'sphosphorusconcentrationhasbeenrisingovertheyears–theindexin2019was17.6percenthigherthanthatin2007–andthishasresultedintheoutbreakofblue-greenalgaebloom,whichatitspeakin2017covered1,346squarekilometers.

WuWenqing,directoroftheauthority,saidthatthereiscurrentlyalackofaccountabilityforwaterpollutionthattakesplaceinborderareasaswaterpollutioncontrolismanagedbytheindividualprovinces.Theauthoritysaiditplanstoenhancecoordinationandwillcallforadministrationsofwaterresourcesatdifferentlevelsoflocalgovernmentstoconductjointinspectionsandsharemonitoringinformation.

TheplanstatedthatacoordinatedworkingmechanismforTaibuRiver,DianshanLake,FenhuLakeandYuandangLakewillbebuiltontheborderthatseparatesShanghaifromJiangsuandZhejiang.