The Department of Water Ecology and Environment Research, which is 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 been qualified to produce 89 types of the second class of national certified reference materials for water environment.

The Department has 9 research sections and a staff of 76, among which 42 are professor-level senior engineers, 18 are senior engineers, and 12 are engineers. There are 67 staff members holding a doctoral degree and 9 holding a Master's degree.

Water Environment Laboratory

·   Compilation and revision of standards, specifications, and regulations pertaining to the water environment field, along with the development of corresponding monitoring methodologies

·   Research and production of National Certified Reference Materials for environmental monitoring

·   Quality assurance and quality control for water environment monitoring laboratories under the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR)

·   Analyzing, monitoring, and research on the transfer and transformation mechanisms of pollutants within the aquatic environment

Liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry coupler (LC-HRMS) for emerging contaminants screening 

Section of Water Environment Safety

·   Water environment safety assessment and pre-warning technology

·   National and regional water environment safety status and development trends

·   Technologies for ensuring safe drinking water

·   Theories of water environment risk assessment

Multi-functional chromatogram

Section of Water Pollution Control and Modeling Technology

·   Mechanism for pollutant transport and transformation in watersheds and water bodies

·   Modeling of watershed, hydrodynamic and water quality

·   Water environmental management and planning

·   Digital Twin for water ecology and environment

·   Emergency management and decision-making for water pollution incidents

Water Quality Model for the Eastern Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project

Section of Environmental Impact Assessment

Theories and methods for environmental impact assessment of hydraulic engineering projects

·   Mechanisms and evaluation methods for cumulative ecological impacts of hydraulic engineering projects

·   Formation mechanisms and mitigation measures for low-temperature water and supersaturated gases

·   Impacts of fish passage barriers in hydraulic engineering project and optimization of engineering solutions

·   Adaptive utilization of runoff and ecological scheduling of hydraulic engineering projects

·   Mechanisms of ecological evolution in rivers after dam removal and ecological restoration

Study on the environmental impact of dam construction on the stream ecosystems

Section of Ecology

·   Studies on watershed ecology

·   Researches on the structures, process, and functions of freshwater ecosystems

·   Research on the succession patterns and stability mechanisms of aquatic biodiversity in watershed scale

·   Research on the theory and mechanisms of hydroecology

·   Environmental and ecological impacts of water conservancy projects

·   Theories, technologies and methods for river and lake health assessment

·   Theories and methods for watershed ecosystem conservation and restoration

·   Techniques for the restoration and rehabilitation of rivers and lakes

Section of Water Environment Management

·   Fundamental theories and applications of water ecology and environment management in basins

·   Fundamental theories and applications of eco-hydraulic engineering

·   Fundamental theories and applications of river ecology under strong disturbances

·   Fundamental theories and applications of aquatic ecological product value realization and appreciation

·   Fundamental theories and applications of reservoir ecological protection and restoration

·   Fundamental theories of multi-dimensional regulation on water quantity, quality and ecology in mine water from coal-rich basins

·   Ecological hydraulic component materials and process equipment

·   Macro-strategies of water ecology and environment protection and management

·   The theoretical framework and implementation strategies for construction of happy rivers and lakes