The Department of Water Ecology and Environment Research, also main-body of the Research Center for Water Environment Monitoring and Assessment as well as the Examination Center for Water Quality Supervision and Inspection of the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR), was established in 2000. The Department has the A-class certificate (SEAC A1024) for Environmental Impact Assessment issued by the General Bureau of Environment Protection.
The Department has been approved by Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China (CNCA), and is also qualified for producing 48 types of national Grade II Water Environment Standard Reference Materials.
The Department has 6 research sections and a staff of 46. Among the staff, 8 are professor-level senior engineers, 18 senior engineers, and 12 engineers. 22 hold doctoral degree, and 18 master degree.
Water Environment Laboratory
● Compilation and revision of standards, specifications and regulations in water environment field as well as monitoring methods
● Research and production of National Certified Reference Materials for environmental monitoring
● Quality assurance and quality control for water environment monitoring laboratories in the MWR
● Analysis, monitoring and study on the transfer and transformation mechanism of pollutants in water environment
Section of Water Environment Safety
● Water environment safety assessment and pre-warning technology
● National and regional water environment safety status and development trend
● Safe drinking water ensuring technology
● Water environment risk assessment theory
Section of Water Pollution Control and Modeling Technology
● Properties of hydro-dynamics of large-scale water bodies, i.e. lakes, reservoirs, and river networks
● Technology for digital modeling and controlling the transporting and transforming of pollutants in water body
● Theories and technology of water environment planning, dispatching controlling and supporting
Section of Environmental Impact Assessment
● Environmental impact assessment of projects under construction and planning
● Acceptance check of environment for water resources and hydropower projects
● Research on water environment culture and urban river-lake landscape
Section of Ecology
● Environmental and ecological impacts of large-scale water resources and hydropower projects
● Planning theory and methods for watershed ecosystem conservation and rehabilitation
● Ecological restoration and rehabilitation of rivers and lakes
● Technology of soil and water conservation and protection for construction projects
Section of Water Environment Management
● Fundamental theories and application of water environment management in basins
● Fundamental theories and key issues of river basin water environment evolution
● Non-point source (NPS) production mechanism and its control technology
● Macro-strategies of water environment protection and management
