Environmental Restoration of the Xinzhou River in Shenzhen

The Xinzhou River, a naturally meandering stream, was reformed into a man-made canal in 1989. The discharge capacity of the river was improved after canalization and the flood control standard was elevated. At the same time, the adverse effect on ecosystem of the river basin emerged. The environmental pollution of the whole Xinzhou River is serious at present, and the polluted situation is especially worse in the tidal reach. The water quality of the Xinzhou River is lower than Class V of the surface water stipulated in Chinese national Standard. The studies and experiments were carried out for the environmental restoration of the Xinzhou River and some river restoration projects for the whole river were launched in 2004. The different improved methods were put forth in the upper, middle and lower reaches. The ecological restoration technologies such as clearance of the polluted deposit, supplement of clean water, ecological gravel bed, aeration technology, ecological bank revetment, and bed slab are employed in the different reaches according to geography and water quality conditions. Some suggestions are presented on the basis of the field investigation results.