Abstract: The core of the “Governance of Five Waters” project in Hangzhou is responsible governance， setting the governance goal as a long-term sustainable development and adhering to the “responsible innovation” in the methodology of implementation. Centering around the “responsible innovation”， the engineering background， process and effect of the “Governance of Five Waters”， the system engineering， comprehensive management and innovation mode of optimizing water dispatching projects of the governance of five waters in environmental management， the innovation models of the “river chief system'， “joint action system” and “Online and offline interactive” supervision system， and the innovation modes for long-term sustainable development， village-enterprise cooperation， participation of the whole people as well as social collaborative governance are studied. The practice of “Governance of Five Waters” explores the realization of the three aspects of law， policy and morality as the social governance of engineering projects， and establishes the active and promising keynote for the governance body of the engineering society.

Key words: responsible innovation, “Governance of Five Waters”, sustainable development, social collaborative governance