Chongqing, a city located at the heart of China's Yangtze River basin in the southwest, is at the forefront of a digital transformation in ecological and environmental governance. With a dense network of rivers forming its vibrant ecosystem, the city has recently integrated digital technologies to revolutionize its approach to water management, pushing ecological governance further into the digital and modern era.

The Bayu Water Management system, launched in December 2023, incorporates digital technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence into environmental governance. With over 11,000 monitoring sensors deployed across the city, the system provides a comprehensive and real-time analysis of the water quality in Chongqing.

Previously, ecological governance relied heavily on manual testing, and data across the region were often scattered, making the process time-consuming and labor-intensive. With the introduction of the new system, the real-time water conditions of all 120 rivers in the city can now be easily monitored on a computer screen. If any indicators report anomalies, the system will automatically issue alerts and analyze potential causes. After review by the staff, the system notifies the relevant regional authorities for inspection and remedial actions.

In March this year, the system issued a warning: excessive levels of ammonia nitrogen and permanganate were detected in the Tongbo River, a transboundary river between Sichuan province and Chongqing. Then alerts including a list of issues to check were sent to the Ecological and Environmental Bureau in the Liangping district and neighboring Dazhu county, leading to coordinated and effective remediation by both sides.

From detection to resolution, it took less than 48 hours — a significant improvement from the previous average of seven days, highlighting the efficiency and precision of the Bayu Water Management system.

Chongqing will continue its data integration efforts and also accelerate the development of its Bayu Water Management, Bayu Air Management, and Bayu Waste Management systems.

The results speak for themselves: in the first half of this year, Chongqing recorded 163 days of good air quality, an increase of six days compared to the first half of last year. The water quality in the Chongqing section of the Yangtze River's main stream remained at Class II, with 98.6 percent of the 74 national monitoring sections meeting excellent water quality standards.