The institute closely focuses on major national needs and scientific issues at the frontier of discipline development, regarding the research and development of water pollution control theory and technology, and the health assurance for water ecological environment. Research is conducted with watershed as the unit, through laboratory and field experiments, field monitoring, and numerical simulation methods. Different scales are covered, including the micro scale of pollutant migration and transformation at the water-soil-organism interface, the meso scale of research in point pollution sites and line pollution rivers, and the macro scale of comprehensive research on water use, ecological protection, and green development in watersheds. Relevant studies explore the evolution law of water ecological environment in watersheds, reveal the mechanisms underpinning the changes of river and lake water quality, and establish the theoretical and technological system of water ecological remediation. In addition, the studies clarify control mechanisms and processes of sustainable and harmonious development of water, soil, ecology, and society in watersheds, propose indicator and methodological systems for evaluation of river and lake health, and develop tools supporting water ecological remediation and management decision in watersheds. All these provide guidance for solving water pollution and water ecosystem degradation in watersheds of China. Directions of research include:
(1) Water and soil pollution control and remediation
(2) River dynamics and ecological engineering
(3) Ecological watershed process simulation and management