The Huaqing Road section of Panbuqiao River at Liangxi district of Wuxi, Jiangsu province [Photo provided to China Daily]

"We started the silt clearing project in 2016 and cleaned six of the district's rivers last year," said Cao Hanshuo, deputy director of the bureau of housing and construction of Liangxi district in Wuxi.

Cao stressed that the district would focus on restoring the self purification ability of rivers to improve water quality.

"We have a supervision team consisted of more than 60 local residents; they will patrol along the rivers every day," said Cao, adding that the district would continue to carry out the "river chief" system to enhance supervision. According to the government work report released during the municipal people's congress, the Wuxi government will further improve the water quality by carrying out 150 key renovation projects on 24 polluted rivers.