Fu Min, a member of the floating object removal team, said Zhou works very hard and is very understanding.

When the team is removing floating objects in faraway places, Zhou brings them lunch, she said.

Zhou said he had noticed a marked improvement in the local environment.

"When the dam first started to store water, there was a large amount of floating objects in Zigui county — almost about one meter thick — but now there's only a thin layer," he said.

The county has invested 40 million yuan to build a waste disposal device to deal with floating objects in the river and the local government has also built two automatic mechanical boats and a floating crane to remove heavy objects.

Zhou said his daughters often give him money and try to persuade him to retire and live a more relaxed life, but he has continued to refuse their entreaties.

"I do not choose the work for the money and as long as the Yangtze River needs me, I will continue until I cannot do so physically," he said.