App harnesses people's desire to help protect rivers

After working in the field of water pollution control science and technology for 14 years, Xu Ting from Huzhou, Zhejiang province, realized that environmental protection efforts are all about people's desire and ability to take care of rivers and lakes.

As a result, in 2016, he devised an applet named Smart River Chief, an intelligent, national river platform that allows people to become involved as "managers" of local waterways by posting photos of specific rivers to monitor their condition and point out problems.

The platform allows the public to update photos of polluted rivers anytime, anywhere. In addition to photos, they can leave comments related to dead fish, garbage or black and dirty water. The platform then helps them report the location of problems to the departments that deal with such issues.