City lake management staff are conducting on-site investigations to locate relevant geographical information about Chen Lake.
“Not a single lake shall be reduced, not an inch of lake surface shall shrink.” In July this year, our city reiterated the concept of “firmly governing lakes,” requiring the verification and completion of foundational archival work for all 166 lakes in the city within two months, clearly marking the location of each lake on the map. From the end of July until now, the Municipal Lake Administration has sent out seven investigation teams to various districts to gather information.
Around 5 p.m. yesterday, after recording the relevant data for Biyan Lake, which covers an area of approximately 0.1 square kilometers, Xu Hui, a staff member of the Municipal Lake Administration, let out a sigh of relief as the three-day effort to investigate and survey 27 lakes in Caidian District was finally completed.
GPS multi-point positioning + video recording to secure ecological Chen Lake
The first stop of the investigation yesterday was Chen Lake. Driving from Hankou, via Hanyang and taking the Han-Hong Expressway for about 60 kilometers, they arrived at the side of Chen Lake in Qihao Village, Xiaosi Township, Caidian District.
In front of the lake’s protection notice board, the staff used a portable GPS positioning device to mark the location. Then, they continued driving forward, walked along a gravel path, waded through knee-high weeds, and stepped carefully into the core area of Chen Lake to reposition and record relevant data. Here, one can see patches of reeds, chirping birds, and occasionally birds flapping their wings, diving into the reeds or skimming over the water—a scene of pristine wetland landscape.
Yang Weiguo, deputy director of the Municipal Lake Administration, explained that the lake map is produced at a scale of 1:2000. Chen Lake is about 11.9 square kilometers in size, with a relatively large water area. To minimize errors, multiple measurement points need to be selected.
In addition, the staff also registered and verified various types of information about Chen Lake, including its main functions, hydrological features, inlet and outlet channels, and property rights units, while retaining image documentation.
Parting the weeds to walk a narrow path leading directly to the lake
When the vehicle arrived at “Lujia Hai” Lake, located in Sihong Village, Zhangwan Street, the survey team abandoned the car and walked on foot. They passed through waist-high cornfields, parted overgrown weeds taller than a person, and walked along an uneven, barely one-person-wide path for about 200 meters before reaching the lakeside beach area.
Xu Hui said that the previous day when inspecting Guanlian Lake, she had to trek through dense shrubbery, and her knee-length pants were scratched by branches, leaving marks on her calves. Yesterday, she specifically changed into long denim pants. She rolled up her pant legs, revealing the clear scratch marks on her calves. “Although it’s tough, it’s worth it to draw up a detailed lake map and pinpoint every inch of the lakes.”
Zhang Qiwu, head of the Caidian District Water Supervision Brigade, said that many lakes in Caidian maintain their pristine ecology, with development prohibited around them, making road access difficult. The day before yesterday, to examine the shape of West Lake, investigators had to take a speedboat and circle the entire lakeshore.
Yesterday, they also visited Zhangjia Lake, Wangjiasha, Beigang Port, Nangang Port, Jindui Lake, and Biyan Lake. They returned to the starting point at nearly 8 p.m., and the vehicle’s odometer showed a round-trip distance of about 260 kilometers.
120 lakes surveyed, lake map to be launched by month’s end
According to officials from the Municipal Lake Administration, the city has currently completed surveys related to 120 lakes. These latest data will be compared and verified with existing records. The Municipal Water Science Research Institute is responsible for editing the map, which will be submitted for expert review in mid-September. By the end of this month, the city’s first lake map will be officially released.