Legal System for River and Lake Management in the Haihe River Basin

ZHAO Liangliang; XU Danting; Li Xiaoyu; Zhao Dong; Gu Zihan

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1004-7328.2025.03.007

Abstract：The Haihe River Basin holds strategic significance in China′s socioeconomic and ecological landscape,as it serves as a critical arena for advancing legally institutionalized water governance to secure high-quality water conservancy development.Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,the nationwide promotion of rule of law principles and the River Chief System has provided unprecedented opportunities to refine the basin′s river-lake governance framework.The necessity of basin-specific legislation under the dual imperatives of rule of law modernization and the River Chief System was elaborated,the current governance status were systematically evaluated—including the implementation efficacy of measures such as the River Chief System,shoreline and water resource management,and sand mining regulation existing in the legal system of river and lake mana gement in Haihe River Basin.To address these challenges,the legislative reforms were proposed that institutionalize the River Chief System within the Haihe River Protection Law,strengthen regulatory frameworks for shoreline spatial control through binding planning instruments,and optimize sand mining management by integrating ecological thresholds into regulatory standards.These measures aim to advance high-quality water conservancy development in the basin through a rule-of-law-based governance paradigm.