China has sought to address water pollution in the last decade by introducing a wide range of laws and regulations, which led to nation-wide water quality improvement. However, recent quantitative assessment of progress toward SDGs in China suggests that some SDGs underpinning goals for water pollution and biodiversity have not been met. Specifically, water quality improvement of lakes showed contradictory results, leading to confusion about water quality improvement in China.

Here, we synthesize water pollution governance and evaluate the effectiveness of pollution mitigation actions for rivers and lakes in China. We focus on the mainstem of the Yangtze River and 25 associated lakes from the mid to lower reaches of the Yangtze River (MLRYR). Water quality during 2008-2018 is assessed using concentrations of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonium-nitrogen (NH₄ ⁺ -N) and total phosphorus (TP) for rivers, and COD, total nitrogen (TN), TP and chlorophyll a (Chla) concentration for lakes. Lake trophic state is evaluated using a comprehensive index, and lake ecological condition is assessed with the Shannon-Weaver biodiversity index for benthic macroinvertebrates.

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Boqiang Qin, Yunlin Zhang, Jianming Deng, Guangwei Zhu, Jianguo Liu, David P Hamilton, Hans W Paerl, Justin D Brookes, Tingfeng Wu, Kai Peng, Yizhou Yao, Kan Ding, Xiaoyan Ji, Polluted lake restoration to promote sustainability in the Yangtze River Basin, China, National Science Review, 2021,nwab207, https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwab207