en.Wedoany.com Reported - Beijing Enterprises Water Group (BEWG) has implemented a comprehensive remediation project on the Shaping River in Heshan, Guangdong, over the past decade. Through a systematic water management approach, the river, which runs through the urban area, has achieved significant improvements in water quality and ecology.
The Shaping River, stretching 37.6 kilometers, flows through the downtown area of Heshan City and several towns including Yayao, Longkou, Gulao, and Taoyuan. It once suffered from water quality deterioration due to industrial and aquaculture discharges. In 2014, the Heshan Municipal Government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with BEWG. In 2016, BEWG won the bid for the first phase of the Shaping River comprehensive remediation project, focusing on a 9-kilometer urban section downstream.
BEWG integrated ecological restoration with cultural heritage preservation and landscape creation, developing a waterfront corridor along the river showcasing elements such as dragon boats, banyan trees, Wing Chun, and lion dances. This project was selected as one of the top ten exemplary cases of territorial spatial ecological restoration in Guangdong Province.
The water management adopted a "six-in-one" whole-basin governance model, covering integrated water supply and drainage, integrated water affairs and water environment, integrated plants, networks, and rivers, integrated urban and rural water affairs, intelligent environmental management, and normalized environmental education. Six major projects were implemented simultaneously: a drinking water security project ensuring safe drinking water for 500,000 residents; a black and odorous water body treatment project completing 9 kilometers of sewage interception pipelines and ecological restoration in the urban section; an industrial and agricultural pollution control project cutting off pollution pathways; an urban flood control project strengthening embankment construction; a road, bridge, and landscape project incorporating cultural elements to create a new "eight scenic spots" along the river; and a rural sewage treatment project establishing 672 rural sewage facilities across the city, including 174 in Shaping, Gulao, and Longkou, with 10 kilometers of river flood control and ecological restoration. Concurrently, a smart water management platform was built to enable real-time monitoring and intelligent dispatch of water quality, quantity, and operational status across the entire basin.
In 2026, Heshan City advanced the "waterside" environment improvement work along the Shaping River, organizing six working groups for special inspections. BEWG carried out remediation based on the principle of "sectional responsibility and fixed-point accountability." As of May 2026, it had trimmed 25,000 square meters of vegetation on the southern embankment slope of the Shaping River, cleared 10 illegally cultivated vegetable plots covering 19,000 square meters, removed 803 tons of floating debris and bank garbage, dredged 640,000 cubic meters of silt from ponds, farmland irrigation and drainage ditches, and river channels, added 135 mu (approximately 9 hectares) of waterfront greening area, and planted 6,460 trees.
Relevant departments in Heshan City stated that the next step will be to improve the long-term mechanism for "waterside" environment remediation, strengthen shoreline management, deepen ecological governance, and continuously enhance river quality.
