Villagers volunteer as 'riverkeepers' for the Hanjiang River in Shaanxi
Inspired by Zhang's unwavering commitment, an increasing number of villagers took up brooms to voluntarily engage in garbage collection efforts, ensuring the river's cleanliness. The entire village embraced the roles of advocates and guardians of the Hanjiang headwaters.
Nowadays, Hanshuiyuan village has established over ten public service posts, each overseen by dedicated personnel responsible for supervising the river cleaning operations. Retired urban residents from Ningqiang county are progressively joining this noble cause, with young students also contributing their time on weekends to partake in litter collection activities and safeguarding the water source.
Except for the organic community initiatives, the local government has also adopted a flexible water management strategy that integrates engineering projects to address flood control deficiencies and ecological governance to preserve the quality of the water source.