Supporting by Tongji University, the Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, covers Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Marine Science, Applied Chemistry, Hydraulic Engineering and other disciplines. The Ministry of Education approved the establishment of Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment of the Ministry of Education in November 2003. In June 2004, the construction of the laboratory began after the expert evaluation organized by the Ministry of Education. In July 2006, the laboratory passed the acceptance inspection of the Ministry of Education and was officially established. It further passed the evaluations by the Ministry of Education in 2009, 2015 and 2020 respectively.

The laboratory is guided by the national strategic demand of “step up conservation of the Yangtze River” to promote the integrated development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. It focuses on major scientific and technological issues and international academic frontiers, regarding the aquatic environment of Yangtze River basin. Based on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yangtze River Delta, the lab targets at water environment problems facing the whole Yangtze River watershed. The laboratory also sets “Water Pollution Control - Water Environmental Quality Improvement - Water Security” as the main threads, trying to build a knowledge innovation chain of “fundamental research - technology research and development – application and demonstration”. It aims to play an exemplary and leading role in gathering outstanding talents at home and abroad, training innovative talents, international cooperation and exchanges, and disciplinary development, thereby making important contributions to the national strategy for the protection of the Yangtze River and international academic research on the water environment in watershed.

The laboratory gives full play to the multidisciplinary advantages and characteristics of Tongji University when anchoring the laboratory goals. It mainly focuses on four research directions: water environment evolution and ecological responses, utilization of water resources and water quality safety, pollution control and ecological restoration, water environment management of river basin. It has formed its own characteristics and advantages in terms of team cohesion, scientific and technological innovation, cooperation with both domestic and international partners and talent cultivation, and has important influence at home and abroad.

In the past five years, the lab has presided over a number of national projects, such as the national science and technology major project of “Water Pollution Control and Treatment”, the national key research and development plan projects, and the national foundation projects. The lab has made original achievements in stress and ecological effect of chemical pollution, and new methods and principles for deep removal of contaminants. Breakthroughs and innovations have been made in some key technologies, such as the efficient treatment of urban sewage and sludge, the treatment and management of river pollution, and the deep purification of drinking water. Associated technologies have been widely used for water pollution control and drinking water safety engineering in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which have obtained remarkable social, economic, and environmental effects, and provided strong supports for the standard formulation and government decision-making.

To meet the strategic needs of the great protection of the Yangtze River, the lab focused on the construction of “1 ship (scientific research ship), 1 library (environmental specimen bank) and 2 bases (Chongming and Yibin)”, establishment of the strategic cooperation platforms with the Yangtze River Ecological Environmental Protection Group and other companies, and carrying out in-depth tracking researches on one of the stationed points about the ecological environment protection and restoration of Yangtze River, which locating in Ma'anshan City, Anhui Province.

The laboratory has substantive cooperation with Sweden, Canada and Germany, with international research teams and collaboratively established laboratories or platforms, such as “Sino-Swedish Environment and Health”, “Sino-Canadian Environment and Sustainable Development” and “Sino-German Clean Water”. The lab has undertook international cooperative research projects, organized a number of international, published research monographs, special issues on the water environment of the Yangtze River Basin, trained joint graduate student, and became a high-level innovative talent training base and characteristic platform for international cooperation and exchanges.

In order to adhere to the advantages of the laboratory and deepen cooperation among universities along the Yangtze River, the “Yangtze River Water Environment Research & University Collaborative Group Academic Conference” has been held for 16 consecutive years. It has become an important academic exchange platform and promoted the cooperative development of the relevant disciplines in universities and talent training in enterprises along the Yangtze River.