An aerial view of the beautiful Liujiang River. [Photo by Meng Mingming/China News Service]

Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was placed at the top of China's 2022 State-controlled water quality list for the third consecutive time, announced the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Jan 28.

Being a major industrial city in Southwest China, Liuzhou is home to many famous domestic and overseas enterprises such as Liuzhou Steel Group, Guangxi Liugong Machinery and SAIC-GM-Wuling.

Enterprises in Liuzhou currently branch into over 30 industries, 2,826 of which have been recognized as industrial pollution sources. Continuous discharge of production waste poses great threat to surface water quality and the urban environment.

In the 1980s, industrial sewage and waste were directly discharged into the Liujiang River, and to compound the problem, the emission of acidic materials at that time turned Liuzhou's rain acidic.

In recent years, Liuzhou has started implementing strict water resource management systems, causing multiple pollution-creating enterprises to either relocate or change their production systems, which resulted in a remarkable improvement in water-use efficiency.

At present, the city has built nine beautiful lakes and rivers, and almost all polluted sources have been treated.

Gong Jidong, director of the Liuzhou bureau of ecology and environment, added that Liuzhou will continue to integrate its development with environmental protection to create a high-quality development pattern that will benefit the people in Liuzhou.