Xiongan launches plan to restore Baiyangdian wetland ecology

Jiang Jinguo, a local fisherman, makes a catch from Baiyangdian Lake on July 16, 2018. [Photo by Guo Yiming/China SCIO]

Local fishermen say they could remember drinking clear lake water from Baiyangdian several decades ago. However, a period of drought in the 1980s depleted the rivers, and the already scarce water resources were polluted from industrial development in northern China.

Making situations worse were dam building projects along the upper reaches of the rivers, which led to poor water circulation.

According to data from the Environmental Protection Department of Hebei province, the water quality of Baiyangdian Lake last November was deemed a level of inferior class V on the national grading system that defines the surface water quality, representing the water is moderately polluted. 

Nevertheless, the local authorities have been making efforts to restore the water quality of the lake. One of the measures was banning cage fishing, a practice that made it quicker and easier to harvest fish, but led to intense over-enrichment of the water and caused algae to grow rapidly, therefore degrading the water quality.