With Liuzhou coming top of the national surface water quality test, people here take pride in the achievement, with an increasing number taking part in river protection. The city has 52,000 river guardian volunteers, who play a crucial role in protecting its waterways.

Tang, the 70-year-old diving enthusiast, joined the volunteer team last summer. Volunteers like Tang report to relevant authorities through both in-person and online channels if they find pollutants or illegal activities along the river.

Xie Xiaolin, deputy director of the Liujiang River ecological environment protection center, said efforts are coordinated among departments, including ecology, water resources, agriculture, forestry and urban construction. The Liuzhou government has also established a committee in charge of ecological environment protection along the Liujiang River. Although the city has led the water quality rankings for five consecutive years, environmental protection remains an ongoing effort, he said.

"Liuzhou experiences frequent rainfall, and the city's combined drainage system, which handles both rainwater and wastewater, covers about 70 percent of the area, posing an ongoing challenge," said Zhou. "When heavy rains exceed the pipeline capacity, it can lead to the overflow of both wastewater and rainwater."

To address this issue, Zhou said the city is planning to expand the capacity of its drainage network. In the meantime, a comprehensive survey of the underground drainage system has been underway since 2022. This effort has helped identify incorrect connections where sewage has been mistakenly linked to rainwater pipes, and corrective measures are being implemented.

"Our wastewater treatment capacity must always stay ahead of the generation capacity. Only in this way, from an infrastructure standpoint, there will be no overflow of wastewater caused by insufficient treatment capacity," said Zhou.

Su Qiulan contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at lishangyi@chinadaily.com.cn