The Source of Life

Future Generations China, local enterprises, and local communities collaboratively carried out this project in Tao Te Ching, which got its name from the Confucius saying, “The highest good is like water.”

This 3-year project aims to improve the quality of water sources in rural Beijing through water pollution treatment, ecological restoration, and water source protection. The process started with treating the water pollution and fortifying the protection embankment of the watershed area. It continued with treating water pollution, restoring aquatic ecosystems, and protecting water sources. This project also collaborated with volunteers from Cummins to carry out activities like domestic trash removal, environmental education, and recycling. The ideology of this project is consistent with Beijing’s vision of city planning, which is centered around water source protection and targets “ecological restoration, environmental improvement and protection”. This project aims to create a “harmonious, comfortable, and livable” environment for local communities and restore the ecological functions of purifying water and preventing soil erosion.

Currently, the project has raised the environmental protection awareness of 1300 local residents, who have reduced their domestic waste by more than 20%. The project also attracted 492 volunteers from enterprises, who collectively contributed more than 1968 hours of their time to participate in the cleaning of the river ways. The polluted 1,800-meter waterway was cleaned and sewage pipes installed.

The project was extended to 17 villages and won first prize for the Cummins Global Environmental Challenge 2016.