A panel of experts got a close look at water pollution prevention and control in Xixia county, near the city of Nanyang, Henan province, on June 24, led by Ning Yuan, a State Council vice-chairman of China's massive south-north water diversion project.

The group were accompanied by local officials, Liu Peicheng and Zhu Yuanzhao, in discussing the water quality monitoring with technicians at local sewage disposal plants. They also got reports on problems the county has encountered in trying to improve river water quality and discussed ways to deal with critical issues in protecting river water.

At the end of the tour, the experts said they could see the great effort the county has made in improving water quality and asked departments involved to increase supervision of sewage disposal plants and landfills, as well as penalties for water pollution and to keep trying to improve the quality of water being pumped to Beijing.

Liu said the county will work on ecology-based economic development and ensure the quality of Guanhe River water to meet the national standards, then added, "We'll reinforce management on preventing water loss and soil erosion and do our best to improve water quality in our county to make sure clean water is transferred to Beijing."

The South-North Water Diversion Project is designed to pump water from the Yangtze River, through eastern, middle and western lines to the parched north part of China, including the capital, Beijing. The first-stage of the middle course started releasing water from Danjiangkou Reservoir on the Yangtze River to the provinces of Henan and Hebei and the city of Beijing, on Dec 12, 2014.