A photo shows the Yellow River passing through Gansu province, where the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Loess Plateau meet. [Photo by Tian Manchao/For China Daily]

The Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Water Resources launched an operation on April 12 to protect water resources and target violations like illegal water intake in the Yellow River Basin.

The operation will run from April to December and cover county-level administrative regions in the provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan and Shandong, and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region and Inner Mongolia autonomous region, through which the river passes.

It aims to strengthen cooperation between the water administration departments and procuratorates, improve the long-term administration mechanism of the Yellow River Basin, and improve water resources management.

Prominent violations in water resources management and protection will be targeted, including unauthorized water intake, failure to draw water in accordance with approved conditions, unauthorized construction of water intake projects or facilities, failure to install water metering facilities as required, violation of ecological use of water management requirements, and failure to perform supervision duties as required.

The authorities should focus on prominent problems affecting people's lives in the Yellow River Basin and actively perform their duties, said Ying Yong, prosecutor-general of the SPP, while addressing a forum on serving and safeguarding the national strategy of the Yellow River held in Zhengzhou, Henan province, on Wednesday.

"The long-term and fundamental protection and administration of the Yellow River should rely on the system and the rule of law," Ying said.

Procuratorates should balance development, protection and governance, focus on the weak links in ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, and fully perform legal supervision, he said.

Li Guoying, head of the ministry, said at the forum that strengthening the coordination of enforcement and supervision is an important way to maintain water security.

Cooperation between water resources departments and procuratorial organs has made notable achievements, and a large number of illegal water problems have been effectively solved, Li said.

The SPP and the ministry will establish a cooperation platform for public-interest litigation in the Yellow River Basin to track and supervise the rectification of problems related to illegal water intake.

In one typical case released by the SPP, from 2019 to 2020, the illegal intake and use of groundwater were commonly found in construction projects in several districts of Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region. Investigators found that some construction sites didn't have water intake permits nor installed water metering facilities, and some even discharged construction wastewater into river channels.

Local regulators didn't perform their duties, causing the waste of groundwater resources and the loss of State-owned property.

The Jinfeng district procuratorate in Yinchuan filed a case in March 2021, and the procuratorate later urged relevant departments to actively clarify and perform their duties, and share information to create synergy.

With the efforts of various administrative organs, 22 projects in construction have reissued water intake and drainage permits, installed water intake metering facilities and built water treatment facilities. Related enterprises have paid out 11.2 million yuan ($1.63 million) in water resources taxes, 2.1 million yuan in overdue fees and 8.8 million yuan in sewage treatment fees.

In February 2022, Yinchuan's legislative body amended local water resources regulations to increase the comprehensive utilization of wastewater from construction.