China Water Resources

Current status and recommendations of promoting integrated development of water, wind, solar and storage energy under the “dual carbon” goal

Promoting renewable energy development shall be the primary choice for China to achieve its carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals. Wind and solar power generation have obvious intermittency,volatility and randomness that may enhance the capability of grid regulation, which is a necessary condition for ensuring rapid growth of renewable energy. Hydropower has two features of adjusting peak of the grid and energy storage and should be boosted under the “dual carbon” goal. Based on basic concepts of integrated development of water, wind, solar and storage energy, best practices of the Qinghai Province which is located in the upper reaches of the Yellow River Basin are introduced. Potentiality and advantages of integrated energy development are explored. However, we are facing a number of challenges such as insufficient installed capacity of hydropower, lacking of integrated planning and coordination mechanism and institutional system. It is recommended to facilitate integrated energy development, by increasing intensity of hydropower development, optimizing the funtion of hydropower from electricity supply to capacity support, improving institutional mechanism for integrated energy development and scientific research and talent cultivation.

Overall ideas and solutions for formulation of water-related laws and regulations in the Yangtze River Basin in the new era

Laws and regulations are key symbols of human civilization and advancement and fundamental for governance of our countries. Protection and governance of the Yangtze River Basin relies on legal system safeguarding. Formulation of water-related laws and regulations in the Yangtze River Basin in the new era shall be the key measure for implementing thoughts of ecological civilization of President Xi Jinping and strategy of law-based governance and necessity of high-quality development. Based on in-depth analysis of effectiveness and issues, the focus is placed on examination of gap and deficiencies between legislation and law enforcement and the needs of river basin protection and governance in the new era. A series of solutions are proposed to tackle the problem, clarify internal logic and development direction: Build accountability for execution of water-related law by defining rights and responsibilities, establishing a responsibility ledger and public education; Formulating and perfecting regulatory system by formulating regulations and planning, collaborative legislation of the river basin and region; Explore a highly efficient law enforcement system by strengthening law enforcement, integration between upstream and downstream, joint actions on a river basis and creating a model of “smart law enforcement”.

Practice and prospect of water and sediment transfer in the Yellow River flood season in 2024

Water and sediment regulation during flood season plays a key part in the Yellow River Basin. In the flood season of 2024, floods frequently occurred in the middle reaches of the river posed a number of challenges to water and sediment regulation. Yellow River Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources conducted an in-depth analysis of water storage and sources of water and sediment, adjusted the strategy of reservoir scheduling, and implemented joint operation of the Sanmenxia and the Xiaolangdi reservoirs. Water and sediment regulation was carried out for three times in order to realize multiple purposes of flood control,sediment reduction, and ecological improvement. During the first scheduling, an approach of “control first,open later” was adopted by the Sanmenxia Reservoir, with consideration to low sediment concentration of the incoming water from the south bank of the Weihe River and high initial water level in the Xiaolangdi Reservoir.During the second and third scheduling, the discharge flow was increased in advance until fully released in response to high sediment floods. Thanks to these measures, siltation of river channel has been reduced, and capabilities of flood discharge and sediment carrying of the water course in the downstream maintained. It also helped to achieve win-win and benefits of flood control, siltation reduction, and ecological improvement, by means of ensuring safety of the reservoir and river course and preventing siltation and blockage of downstream culverts and gates that diverts water from the Yellow River, safeguarding water supply and power generation,and improving ecology and environment of the estuary. In the future, more attention needs to be paid on studies of water and sediment sources, optimization of scheduling strategy, measures of forecasting, early warning,rehearsal, and contingency plans, so as to provide strong support for ecological protection and high-quality development of the basin.

Studies on river ethics and it's practice and reflection in the Pearl River Basin

River ethics is a new epistemology and methodology for carrying forward relationship between water-people and water-society in the new era. On the basis of background, connotation analysis and significance of river ethics, the issues with current water governance in the the Pearl River basin from the perspective of river ethics are examined, such as lacking of resilience, co-construction, co-governance and sharing, less emphasis on value rather than development and high costs. The necessity and urgency of developing river ethics are discussed. The relationship between technical, administrative, economic and ethical water management are systematically examined. The relationship between giving commitment,stimulating motivation, making correction and establishing system is first proposed. Studies are made on value reconstruction from the perspective of river ethics for river basin governance and protection, which include four aspects: the first is a river ethics value reconstruction mechanism based on the “Driver State Response”(DSR)model; the second is problem oriented analysis of driving factors; the third is path of value reconstruction through analysis of development forms; the fourth is specific measures covering three aspects of management methodology, development model and public behavior. It aims to promote continuous improvement and optimization of water allocation, public participation, co-construction, co-governance and sharing, harmony between man and water and spiritual culture in the basin.

High-quality construction and innovative practices of the Dashixia ultra-high faced sand gravel dam

The water retaining structure of the Dashixia Multipurpose Project in Xinjiang is a 247 meter high faced sand gravel dam, which is the highest of the same type in the world. It is located in a narrow river valley with steep slopes. Frequent seismic activities with high basic intensity have been taken place at the project site. The construction environment is featured by hot and cold winds, and high contents of sediment in the river. The project has a large-scale and a dam height exceeds the scope of specification and beyond the experience of design. The construction period is short and the filling intensity is high. In order to achieve high-quality zoning filling and phased pouring, reduce dam settlement deformation and prevent concrete cracking, concepts of intelligent management and digital construction were introduced according to the plan and schedule to address challenges and difficulties in engineering construction. A smart management cloud platform was developed by integrating multiple technologies such as “BIM+GIS+IoT”.The results show that the entire process of dam construction with an intelligent and control system helped to realize a one-stop management mode that closely links material collection, transportation, paving,rolling, quality inspection, and monitoring and achieve monitoring of main parameters as well as full recording of quality and traceability of the process, with high standard, strength, safety, quality and standardized construction. The innovative practices provide technical supports for a stable construction and operation of the project.

Development of large language models and their application in intelligent interaction on the "four pres" platform

Large language models(LLMs) have emerged as a significant breakthrough in artificial intelligence in recent years.Leveraging the Transformer architecture and self-attention mechanisms,these models exhibit near-human natural language understanding capabilities at an ultra-large scale,assisting human cognition,reasoning,judgment,and decision-making.Currently,the application of LLMs in specialized domains has become a focal point,especially with the open-source release of DeepSeek based on the Mixture of Experts(MOE) architecture,which offers a more accessible technical pathway for industry applications and further stimulates related research.The "four pres"(forecasting,early warning,pre-planning,and emergency response)in flood control represent a novel intelligent business application in water conservancy based on digital twin technology.This system is characterized by strong specialization,lengthy business chains,and complex system architecture.While functionally comprehensive,there remains room for improvement in usability.Based on an analysis of the understanding and reasoning capabilities of large language models,this study proposes,for the first time,a classification system for intelligent interaction with large models,ranging from L0 to L3 levels.Focusing on intent recognition and intelligent invocation,the research explores application scenarios and technical implementation paths that support the "four pres" platform.Methods to enhance the output certainty of large models are proposed by optimizing "preset content" and incorporating specific problem overlays,which are tested on general large models.The study also explores pathways for large models to intelligently invoke professional models within the "four pres" platform,providing feasible solutions to improve interactive friendliness.Additionally,this research offers valuable references for the deep application of large language models in intelligent water conservancy business.

Understanding and reflections on deepening the reform of the river and lake chief system

Since the comprehensive implementation of the river and lake chief system, significant achievements have been made in the protection and management of rivers and lakes. This system represents a major reform in river and lake management, embodying the practical application of Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization. It serves as an effective measure to pool resources to accomplish major initiatives and is an important avenue for innovation in river and lake management models. This study systematically reviews the policy documents and practical explorations related to the river and lake chief system. Drawing on practices from various regions across the country, it identifies several key issues that require attention in deepening the reform of the system and promoting the high-quality development of happy rivers and lakes. These issues include balancing emergency measures with long-term mechanisms, standardizing and normalizing the operations of the system, clarifying and ensuring the fulfillment of responsibilities by river and lake chiefs,establishing ecological product and compensation mechanisms for transboundary rivers and lakes, developing evaluation indicators and assessment systems, and enhancing the breadth and depth of public participation.The study proposes that the deepening development of the river and lake chief system requires innovative mechanisms, high-quality development necessitates new productive forces in water conservancy, river and lake protection and management should respect river ethics, the construction and management of happy rivers and lakes call for new models, and the ultimate goal of the river and lake chief system is to build “safe, healthy,ecological, beautiful, and harmonious” happy rivers and lakes.

Rethinking ecological management measures for Beijing's river channels after the “23·7” catastrophic flood in the Haihe River basin

Taking the Yongding River's urban section in Beijing as an example, this paper discusses the four phases of river management in Beijing: the flood control and drainage phase of the 1980s, the engineering river management phase of the 1990s, the ecological management V1.0 phase from the early 21st century to 2023,and the ecological management V2.0 phase since the “23·7” catastrophic flood in the Haihe River basin in 2023. It focuses on analyzing the outcomes of the ecological management V1.0 phase and the issues exposed by the “23·7” catastrophic flood. The study proposes an ecological management V2.0 model, emphasizing the enhancement of management standards in terms of flood control safety and ecological resilience, improving the adaptability of green spaces, and enhancing the flood control capabilities of road and facility systems.By analyzing the impact of floods on river morphology, embankments, and ecological landscapes, the study identifies the vulnerabilities of river ecosystems and the shortcomings of current management strategies. The findings indicate that although the ecological management V1.0 phase achieved certain successes, it remains inadequate in the face of extreme weather events. There is a need to further improve the flood control system,enhance resilient design, optimize water systems, strengthen spatial control and flood adaptability of green systems, and improve flood control measures for road and facility systems. This aims to provide scientific references for constructing safer, more ecological, and sustainable urban river ecosystems.

Practices and future of transformation from XOD to WOD model based on policy document analysis

Water security oriented development model(WOD) is regarded as practical application and upgrading of XOD model in water security field. However, theoretical research and studies are still under early stage, without introduction of policy documents. With a three-dimensional analysis framework of “policy toolstargets-development phases”, XOD policy tools can be divided into types of supply, environment and demand.Policy targets can be divided into planning approval and coordination mechanism, selection and bundling of relevant projects, land use and supply, revenue feedback mechanism, investment and financing model mechanism, and design and indicator control. Policy development of XOD model is divided into three phases:embryonic phase(2015—2017), development phase(2018—2020) and promotion phase(after 2021). By using Nvivo11 qualitative document analysis software, we conducted quantitative analysis on policy documents related to XOD models such as EOD, TOD and ROD, in order to provide useful experiences for policy making.The study indicates that policy system for the development of XOD model has been perfecting along with more practices and clarification of directions. But the XOD model policy exhibits structural imbalances across different dimensions, with less attention given to demand driven policy tools and functions of market and civil society. Policy targets are unevenly distributed and incompatible with characteristics and needs of the XOD model. Practical insights are proposed for WOD model development from the aspects of strengthening top-level design, optimizing project approval mechanism and perfecting project planning and design.

Research on the model system of water conservancy and promotion of the model platform

Water conservancy models play a crucial role in the construction of digital twin water conservancy systems and are significant in managing core operations such as flood control and water resource allocation.Currently, general water conservancy models are widely used across various river basins; however, issues such as high specialization and limited universality persist. In response, a digital twin water conservancy model system that balances generality and specificity has been developed. A four-in-one optimization strategy has been proposed, encompassing the enhancement of physical mechanisms, algorithm improvements, integration of artificial intelligence, and dynamic feedback from monitoring data. Additionally, key technologies for model platform development have been investigated, including model integration and encapsulation, construction of modeling tools, multi-model coupling, and interactive processing. Application demonstrations, such as flood forecasting and scheduling in the lower Yellow River and water quality simulations in the Danjiangkou Reservoir, showcase the practical effectiveness of model coupling applications. Finally, mechanisms for promoting and applying the model platform are discussed, adopting a hierarchical deployment approach to establish co-construction and sharing mechanisms across different levels. Dynamic, multi-model coupling solutions tailored to specific business requirements are also explored.

Water Rights and Water Markets: Discussing Economic Means for Achieving Optimal Allocation of Water Resources

This article serves as a speech outline prepared for the 2000 annual conference of the China Institute of Water Resources. On March 30, 1999, during the Seventh National Congress of the China Institute of Water Resources, I presented the viewpoint of "transitioning from engineering water resources to resource-based water resources." That speech cannot be considered a purely academic theoretical article; rather, it was a set of requirements for water resources work based on the practical development of water resources. It aimed to initiate a major discussion on "how China's water resources should face the 21st century" and fulfilled my responsibilities as a leader. Similarly, "Water Rights and Water Markets", although discussing issues of water economics, does not make me an expert in this field. Instead, the urgent demand for the reform and development of water resources in China requires us to research and address such topics. I have merely laid the groundwork to draw attention to this issue.

Analysis of Water Supply and Demand in 21st Century China: Ecological Water Conservancy Research

Facing the resource and environmental challenges in 21st-century China, the issue of water is particularly severe. Scarcity and wastage coexist; abundance and ecological imbalance coexist; contamination and poor management coexist. In fact, there are interconnected and transformative relationships among water resources, water disasters, and water environments. Water, as a core element of ecology and the environment, has positive effects when utilized efficiently as a water resource. However, fluctuations in its abundance and scarcity can lead to water-related disasters, while its quality evolution is closely related to water management and environmental protection efforts...

Speech at the Symposium on Ecological Protection and High-quality Development of the Yellow River Basin

Objectives of River Ecological Restoration

While water conservancy engineering construction has brought significant benefits to the economy and society, it has also posed threats to river ecosystems. Reflecting on this, people have raised questions about how to restore river ecosystems to compensate for the damage. Scholars from various countries have different views and definitions regarding the objectives of river ecological restoration. Considering the national conditions of China, when researching and implementing river ecological restoration, it is essential to base the efforts on the current status of river ecosystems. Creating favorable conditions and harnessing the self-recovery mechanisms of ecosystems are crucial steps in gradually restoring river corridor ecosystems.

River health connotation

River health, as one of the river assessment tools, rather than a strictly scientific concept performs a well function in setting up relative bench mark and evaluable criterion, Based on it , river ecosystem states , which varies under double actions of nature force and human activity, could be dynamically monitored and evaluated in order to predict its revolution trend through research and prompt its well development through management. The river health assessment should exhibit the balance between development and protection, the benefit coordinating among correlatively interested individuals and groups. Since water pollution becomes the severest threat to river health in our country, so at present stage of our ecologic environmental construction , its control and treatment should be put in the first place.

A preliminary discussion of the engineering ethics and advanced cultural in Dujiang Weir

The Chinese people has thousands years of history for water governance.The practices of water governance,utilization and management of successive dynasties have left us with rich material,institutional and spiritual wealth.In order to explore the multiple values of this world cultural heritage,discussions are made on the contribution of those outstanding water projects represented by Dujiang Weir,so that Chinese wisdom and China's plan can be developed to address issues of imbalance between water supply and demand and other water crisis.Eco-friendly water project construction in the new age should be led by advanced water culture,with learning from good practices of Dujiang Weir from conservation and cultural prospective,so as to build a society with harmony of man and water and water structures in a modernized and eco-friendly ways.

Human activity and the global climate change and its impact on water resources

In understanding the effect of human activity on the global climate change for recent 100 years, IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has played a key role. During 17 years from 1990, IPCC has continuously gained insight into better understanding on the global climate change during the recent 100 years mainly caused by human activity, with its four assessment reports. This achievement has been made with provision of three aspects of evidences: (1) rapid increase in greenhouse gases since preindustrial era (after 1750); (2) temperature rise or warning of surface, tropospospere and oceans; (3) 100-yr climate simulations since 1900 for detection and attribution of the past climate change. These results have shown that recent 100-yr warming is jointly caused by natural climate fluctuation and anthropogenic activity, but most of recent 50-yr climate change is caused by the authropogenic activity. The present paper has first reviewed this issue. Then, the debates and uncenrtainties of global climate change issue have been discussed. The global climate change has had a significant impact on global water resources and management. This issue is further discussed based on changes in temperature, precipitation, sea level rise and evapotranspiration, which may be a necessary scientific basis for adaptation.

Discussions on key issues of water ecological civilization construction

How to understand water ecological civilization construction? On the basis of the interpretation of the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,this paper analyses and discusses several key issues of water ecological civilization as follows.First,the definition and connotation of water ecological civilization are given and the links between water ecological civilization construction and ecological civilization construction proposed by the state are elaborated.In addition,this paper analyses the crucial issues which should be paid attention to during the process of advancing water ecological civilization,and proposes specific recommendations to help to make the 5 goals of water ecological civilization come to be realized.

Thought of ancient "sponge city" : experiences of applying water-adaptive landscape

"Sponge city" is regarded as a new approach to deal with serious ecological and environmental problems under the process of fast urbanization at present. In ancient times, we have accumulated valuable experiences of building adaptive landscapes in the process of water resources management over a long period of time and fighting against various water disasters, such as selection of site of settlement, water resources management in cities and formation of cities. This approach has reflected the thought of "sponge city" that has great significance to the design of city landscape. Research and studies on adaptive landscape in ancient cities by academic field both home and abroad in recent decades are introduced, among which the study results from the Middle East, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and ancient mayan civilization are plenty and most of the studies focus on water diversion and storage works. The contents and type of adaptive landscape are affected by precipitation and landscape characters. The key areas of current studies have transformed from single factors such as flood control or drought relief into comprehensive research including examining complex structure and complicated functions of water landscape. Along with development of modern technology, how to improve theories of "sponge city" construction and practice has become a key subject for modern landscape design, facing the increasingly degradation of water environment and ecosystem and the fact of heritages of water landscape in ancient cities have been damaged and disappeared with each passing day.

Countermeasures for rainstorm and flood prevention in high-density cities——the “7·20” heavy rain revelation in Zhengzhou

Urban rainstorm flood disaster is the most prominent urban flood disaster in China. Combined with the "7·20" heavy rain revelation in Zhengzhou, through in-depth analysis of the main characteristics and causes of heavy rainfall and flood in high-density cities in China, from the three aspects of "resilience of defense system, resilience of infrastructure, and less loss in extreme rainstorm", the countermeasures of rainstorm flood prevention and control in high-density cities are proposed. It provides a new idea for solving urban flood problems systematically and improving urban flood defense and resilience.