Ecological engineering restoration of a non-point source polluted river in Northern China

•An ecological engineering with 3 coupled parts for restoring a non-point source polluted river in Northern China has been described.•The 3 parts of the engineering worked well in pollutants removal together with livelihood improvement.•The relationship among 3 parts of the engineering and their function were analyzed in this paper.•The demonstration of ecological engineering for non-point source pollutants should be applied broadly in developing country.