A bird's eye view of the Wuxi section of Taihu Lake. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
The Wuxi section of the country's third largest freshwater lake, Taihu Lake, usually reminds people of Gonghu Bay, Yuantouzhu, and Shibawan.
After years of efforts to build wetlands around the lake, vast stretches of wetlands have emerged to the west of Taihu Lake, near Yixing, a county-level city in Wuxi.
Limpid water of the wetlands to the west of Taihu Lake in Wuxi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
Walking along Taihu Lake in Yixing, one can observe pond after pond of limpid water; currently, there are 800 mu (53.33 hectares) of such wetlands to the west of Taihu Lake.
Previously, the area was full of algae mud because of blue-green algae. Local authorities used the microbial biochemical system to treat water and dredged the waterways before planting aquatic plants and cultivating microorganisms to refine the ecological balance in the area.
Wetland to the west of Taihu Lake in Wuxi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
In the first half of this year, the water quality of Taihu Lake reached the best level in the past 10 years. From January to June, the average water quality was recorded as Class IV in the country's five-tier water quality system.