To address pollution, it is also necessary to deal with siltation

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　With the increasing intensity of supervision and assessment efforts aimed at energy conservation and emission reduction in our country, many localities have shut down or restructured those \"five types of small\" chemical enterprises that cause severe pollution in recent years, in order to improve river water quality. However, in some areas, **although efforts are made to encourage enterprises to reduce energy consumption and emissions, sufficient attention has not been paid to the severe river silt pollution in rural areas. 　　To what extent is silt accumulating in rural ditches and rivers? There is a folk song that goes: “It’s hard to move a boat with a pole; ships find it difficult to sail; water flow is hard to regulate.” ”These three difficulties in movement illustrate the severity of siltation in rural ditches and rivers. 　　Half-a-person-deep foul silt not only poses significant obstacles to water transportation, water diversion for drought relief, and flood control, but also severely pollutes the water environment. The silt-rich water used for fertilization promotes the rampant growth of water hyacinth, duckweed, and other aquatic plants, which cover the water surface; the once pleasant scene of smooth water flow, clean water quality, and fish swimming in the shallow waters is completely gone. 　　Siltation in rural ditches and rivers is severe, and it didn’t happen overnight. For over 20 years, people’s desire for profit has grown increasingly; farmers no longer wish to use mud and manure to fertilize their fields, preferring instead to buy chemical fertilizers. Local authorities prefer to allocate public funds to building buildings and squares and other visible projects, rather than spending money on cleaning rivers and removing silt from them. The harmonious alignment of the different interest perspectives between the common people and officials has resulted in rural farmland becoming increasingly \"clean\" but also more compacted as it is cultivated; meanwhile, river silt keeps accumulating, raising the riverbed and diminishing its capacity for water diversion and drainage, thereby deteriorating the water quality. Therefore, it is of great significance and urgency to control siltation in Qinghe. 　　Removing silt from ditches and rivers and ensuring smooth flow in these waterways, so as to keep the water in motion, clean, and active, is a project aimed at preventing water pollution, improving the water environment, facilitating water transportation, and bringing benefits to the people. It is also an important task for enhancing the capabilities of water diversion for drought relief and water release for flood control, thereby ensuring high and stable yields in agriculture. Local areas should, in conjunction with the development of new rural areas and winter/spring water conservancy projects, fully mobilize the local population to vigorously implement the \"Clear Water Project\", which focuses on dredging rivers. It is better to build fewer landmark projects rather than use part of public financial funds for cleaning up silt in rivers and ditches ； At the same time, it is necessary to proceed from practical considerations, implement the labor accumulation system properly – those who work should contribute through labor, those who do not work should contribute financially, and financial contributions can be used in place of labor; overall planning and expenditure management should be ensured, with funds allocated specifically for this purpose, in order to ensure the dredging of ditches and rivers. 　　To put the work of dredging ditches and rivers and addressing pollution on a sustainable track and enhance its overall effectiveness, it is possible to draw on the experience of the top party and government officials in Wuxi, who serve as \"river chiefs.\" A system of leadership oversight for improving the water quality of each ditch and river should be implemented, along with systems for managing and maintaining water surfaces, as well as for contracting out cleaning tasks. These systems should remain in place for several years, so as to ensure that the dredged ditches and rivers maintain a healthy ecological environment characterized by clean water, green banks, and fish swimming about – something that farmers wholeheartedly desire.