A conference on water conservation was held in Hai'an, a county-level city in Nantong, Jiangsu province, on Dec 27. It was attended by several local government officials.

At the conference, Zhao Wenbin, deputy mayor of Nantong, praised progress made in water conservation in 2019. 

He stressed that all relevant departments should work together to promote the improvement of the rural water environment, create a connected watercourse system, boost major water conservation projects, enhance water and soil conservation, and strengthen supervision.

In 2019, Hai'an put a special focus on major water conservation projects and made some significant achievements in the river chief system. A total of 11 river improvement projects were completed throughout the year, costing about 280 million yuan ($40.17 million) in total.

Hai'an has also improved farm irrigation, flood control, disaster prevention, and water environment bearing capacity, resulting in a higher yield of rice per unit area than any other area in the province in 2019. The county-level city was also honored with a provincial title for its water conservation efforts.

Yu Lizhong, mayor of Hai'an, said that the local government will further promote the construction of water conservation infrastructure, improve the water quality of rivers, and develop a long-term governance system in order to facilitate overall rural revitalization.

After the conference, government officials investigated the water conservation situation at several major sites.