Erik Solheim is briefed on the changes that the anti-pollution campaign "Water Movement" has brought to Pujiang county, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Pujiang Fabu WeChat]

Pujiang county in East China's Zhejiang province, used to be in the unenviable position of being the most polluted county in China.

Now, thanks to the province's "Water Movement" launched in June 2013, it has turned into a region with clear water, fresh air and pleasant scenery.

The great changes that have taken place in the county impressed Erik Solheim, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) who paid a field trip to Pujiang in the middle of April.

There used to be 22,000 companies in Pujiang churning out 85 percent of the world's hot fix crystal glassware. By 2013, the county's rivers and lakes were severely polluted by the devastating untreated waste from crystal workshops. More than 500 of its water sources were milk-white, while another 25 had turned black.

Pujiang became the first target of Zhejiang's "Water Movement" five years ago, a huge anti-pollution campaign that has had far-reaching effects. However, it was difficult to strike a balance between economic development and environmental protection as the crystal industry had brought huge wealth to the county and provided employment to more than 200,000 people at that time.

Policymakers faced a seemingly intractable dilemma, but eventually they decided on a policy which would address the issue.

In an effort to curb the pollution blighting the county, the decision was made to close Pujiang's thousands of outdated, difficult-to-regulate workshops and instead promote modern, large-scale production.

The government invested 5.5 billion yuan ($863.4 million) to build the Pujiang Crystal Business Park, which opened in August 2015. Most of the county's remaining crystal companies moved to the new park where a centralized waste treatment system allows companies to share the costs.

Today, Pujiang's environment has drastically improved after a raft of effective measures.

Solheim highly commended the county's efforts in improving its rivers and lakes after being told about the changes that have been made in Pujiang on April 18.

He was also briefed on how Pujiang is promoting the coordination of economic growth, social harmony and ecological protection through the "Water Movement" policy, and he stressed some measures can serve as examples to other developing countries.