Achievements bolster China's water security plans

China has built the world's largest, most comprehensive and populous water infrastructure system, Minister of Water Resources Li Guoying said on Monday.

By the end of 2024, the country had constructed 95,000 reservoirs, 200 large and medium-sized water diversion projects, 6,924 large and medium-sized irrigation areas and 318,000 kilometers of embankments, Li said at a news conference at the State Council Information Office.

In 2022, investment in water conservancy construction exceeded 1 trillion yuan ($140 billion) for the first time, reaching 1.35 trillion yuan in 2024. Total investment during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) is projected to surpass 5.4 trillion yuan, 1.6 times that of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), he said.

Globally, China has one of the most complex water systems. Workers in China's water sector undertake the most challenging river management tasks and the most arduous water control missions in the world, he said.

Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, new achievements in water conservancy have contributed significantly to ensuring flood control security, water supply security, grain security and ecological security, Li added.

The country has consistently prioritized the safety of people's lives and property, continuously improving the flood and drought disaster prevention system, he said.

The flood control capacity of reservoirs stands at 185.6 billion cubic meters, embankments protect 660 million people and national flood detention zones have a capacity of 109 billion cubic meters, Li said.

Over the past five years, China successfully managed floods exceeding warning levels on 3,981 rivers, including 223 rivers that have experienced their largest floods on record, he said.

The flood storage capacity of seven major river basins has reached 210.4 billion cubic meters, capable of handling the largest floods since the founding of New China, he said.

Meanwhile, the country has also effectively addressed severe droughts in basins such as the Yangtze and Pearl rivers, ensuring drinking water security and irrigation needs. The proportion of economic losses from flood disasters to GDP decreased from 0.28 percent during the 13th Five-Year Plan period to 0.18 percent during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Li said.

Frequent and severe floods and droughts in recent years have posed serious challenges to grain production, Li said. During severe droughts, such as the 2022 event in the Yangtze River Basin, precise water dispatching from 75 reservoirs ensured irrigation for 12.2 million hectares of autumn grain, securing a harvest despite the drought.

Flood control measures also saved 4.91 million hectares of farmland from inundation and prevented a grain output reduction of 26.5 billion kilograms during the first four years of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, he added.

Zhang Xiangwei, director of the ministry's Department of Planning and Programming, said the reinforcement of 17,994 risky reservoirs restored their functions and improved safety over the past five years, achieving zero reservoir collapses for three consecutive years from 2022 to 2024.