Water quenches thirst for growth

According to Niu, if there were a communication failure at the pump station, the system inside the station would be able to supply water steadily for at least a week.

The intelligent facilities have solved the problem of high cost and management difficulty caused by rural households being numerous but scattered, Jiang says.

Therefore, water fees are lowered in these underdeveloped villages where pipelines have to go through mountains and ditches.

As Ningxia has already built a unified online platform before to manage water conservancy information, and facilities to provide internet access for rural areas, the county doesn't have to invest much on internet infrastructure for the transformation such as server and the machine room, nor the data operation and security issues, according to Niu.

Over the past decade, Ningxia has been prioritizing the resolution to provide rural areas with safe drinking water. Tap water penetration has risen from 26 percent at the end of 2006 to 90 percent by 2019.

"We have historically solved the problem of water shortage and covered the barren hills with green," says Ma Hancheng, vice-chairman of the autonomous region and a deputy to the National People's Congress at a recent interview with chinanews.com.

Ningxia is now seeking to promote the intelligent water supply facilities of Pengyang to the whole region and is determined to provide replicable and referential experience for the country, where freshwater resource is much limited and distributes unevenly.

The region is calling for more financial and policy support from the country, according to a recent proposal from the region's water conservancy department.