Lishui River

Overview

The Lishui River is the southern source of the Qinhuai and a main watercourse of the Qinhuai system. The Jiangsu Provincial Qinhuai River Water Conservancy Project Management Office records that the Qinhuai has a northern and a southern source: the northern, the Jurong River, rises on the southern slope of Baohua Mountain in Jurong City, and the southern, the Lishui River, rises at Donglu Mountain in Lishui County, Nanjing; the two meet at the north-west village of Fangshandai in Jiangning District, Nanjing, to form the main channel of the Qinhuai. The district government's geographical position page lists the Lishui River in the Qinhuai system and gives its length as 6.5 km.

Only one figure for the length has been found, 6.5 km on the district government's geographical position page. The environmental impact report for the Ergan River desilting project gives the Lishui River a basin of 680 sq km, a figure that covers the Yigan, Ergan and Sangan rivers as a whole and is not the area of the main channel itself. The Dongping Subdistrict environmental report writes the Lishui River as comprising the three branches, the Yigan, Ergan and Sangan rivers; this is an official statement of the reading that the Lishui River is the name for the main channel after the three rivers have joined, and that document gives no length for the Lishui River itself.

The subdistricts are Yongyang, Zhetang and Dongping: the 2018 annual implementation scheme for water pollution prevention records the assessment unit for the Wusha Bridge cross-section on the Lishui River as Yongyang Subdistrict, the Development Zone and Dongping Town; the Development Zone is the Nanjing Lishui Economic Development Zone, which shares its offices with Zhetang Subdistrict and is now Zhetang Subdistrict.

Formation and change

The Lishui River is one of the district's seven main watercourses (Measures for the Management and Protection of Water Conservancy Works in Lishui District, Lu Zheng Gui [2022] No. 2).

Junctions: the Yigan River meets the Sangan River at Wangjiawei ferry and flows into the Lishui River (Jiangsu Provincial Department of Water Resources, 3 July 2023); the Ergan River runs from Fangbian Reservoir to the Lishui River (environmental impact report for the Ergan River desilting project); the Sangan River flows from south to north into the Lishui River (Shiqiu Subdistrict environmental report). After the three rivers have joined they are together called the Lishui River.

Diversion route: the 2023 reply of the Lishui District Water Affairs Bureau records a proposed route that would draw Yangtze water at the Qinhuai New River pumping station and pass it along the Qinhuai New River, the main Qinhuai channel, the Lishui River, the Yigan River, the Tianshengqiao River and the Putang River into the Xinqiao River, about 85 km in all; the document places the Lishui River between the main Qinhuai channel and the Yigan River.

No first-tier source has been found for the two ends of the Lishui River or for its final alignment, so nothing is written here.

Landscape and visiting

Water quality cross-section: Wusha Bridge on the Lishui River is a provincial-level assessment cross-section (Lishui Ecological Environment Bureau, published on the district government website in January 2022). The table gives the name and level of the cross-section only, not a water quality class.

Automatic water quality station: the 2018 annual implementation scheme for water pollution prevention records the completion of an automatic water quality monitoring station on the Lishui River at Wusha Bridge.

No first-tier source has been found for footpaths, waterside platforms, viewing facilities or opening information along the Lishui River, so no visiting detail is given; readers who need it should go to the official notices of the district water department, the district culture and tourism department and the local subdistricts. Information is current to September 2026.

Open questions

• Two senses of the name: in the narrow sense the main channel, whose length the district government's geographical position page gives as 6.5 km; in the broad sense the river as comprising the three branches, the Yigan, Ergan and Sangan (Dongping Subdistrict environmental report). The two senses stand together and are not used interchangeably.
• One figure only for the length: 6.5 km (district government geographical position page), with no second official figure found, which is why this entry's confidence is medium.
• The basin of 680 sq km (environmental impact report for the Ergan River desilting project) covers the Yigan, Ergan and Sangan rivers as a whole and is not the area of the main channel; that document does not state its statistical footing, and the figure is not to be used alongside the 6.5 km length.
• The two ends have not been found: no official source gives the two ends of the Lishui River or its final alignment, and this site records the gap as it stands.
• The subdistricts are taken from the cross-section assessment units (2018 annual implementation scheme for water pollution prevention), which are a division of work for cross-section assessment rather than a complete list of the subdistricts along the Lishui River.
• An old name is repeated as it stands: the page of the Jiangsu Provincial Qinhuai River Water Conservancy Project Management Office uses the old name Lishui County (the county became a district in 2013), and any quotation must note that it is now Lishui District.
• The fishing-ban list: Lu Zheng Fa [2020] No. 75 lists the Lishui River among the rivers connected with Shijiu Lake where fishing is banned all year, which stands alongside the district government's geographical position page placing the Lishui River in the Qinhuai system; both are recorded here without explanation.