Under the concept of "to step up conservation of the Yangtze River and stop its over development", the high-quality development of China's River Basin Economic Belt urgently needs to pay attention to the dynamics, causes and consequences of the transfer of water pollution-intensive industries. Since the new century, China's water pollution-intensive industries have shown a trend of "upstreaming", and if their pollutants "downstream", the environmental risks in downstream areas will be increased. Based on the county data of seven major river basins in China, the existence of the "pollution return effect" is verified for the first time in this study. It is found that the "pollution return effect" is mainly caused by the competition between the upstream and downstream local governments, while the vertical environmental regulation represented by the "national control point" environmental monitoring system can play a certain inhibitory role. The "pollution return effect" mainly occurs in domestic enterprises rather than foreign enterprises, and this effect will also be further amplified by the "yardstick competition" within jurisdiction. In order to control the pollution of river basins, the state should comprehensively consider the top-level design of taxation, financial and environmental policies in the river basin economic belt zone, and strictly control the undesired environmental consequences caused by local government competition.
