China Water Resources

Enhancing China's capacity in responding to extreme precipitation and flood disasters

Research on digital twin technology for the whole process of water conservancy engineering survey

Comprehensively improving the digital service level of engineering survey is crucial for accelerating the construction of digital twin in water conservancy. In accordance with the requirements of “demanddriven, application-oriented, digital empowerment, and capability enhancement”, it is necessary to deepen the digital mapping, intelligent simulation, and forward-looking rehearsal of all elements in survey production, so as to promote the quality and efficiency of survey and design work, realize digital empowerment, and achieve intelligent early warning and control of geological risks. In view of the current situation in China's water conservancy survey field, where understanding of survey digital twin is not unified, achievements are fragmented, and technical routes are immature, this paper proposes a collaborative mechanism for the whole process of water conservancy engineering survey digital twin, consisting of “digital collection-modeling and simulation-twin application-standard construction”. The connotation, application requirements, construction contents, and key technologies of survey digital twin are clarified, and a digital twin platform for water conservancy engineering survey is constructed. The platform includes an “sky-space-earth integrated” data acquisition system, a 2D and 3D real-scene cataloging system, a 3D geological modeling system, a rock slope design system, a “one-map” system for water conservancy engineering survey, and a geotechnical construction management and control system, thereby realizing whole-process digital operations and result delivery. Practice shows that this technology and platform enable dynamic management and control of the entire survey process through digital twin technology, providing a referable solution for digital twin development in the water conservancy industry and supporting the construction of smart water conservancy.

Conception and research prospect of future “water conservancy 5.0”

Water conservancy is an important support and fundamental guarantee for national economic and social development. Scientifically assessing the future development trends of water conservancy and preparing to meet new challenges and historical missions are of great significance. On the basis of reviewing “water conservancy 4.0”, the conception of “water conservancy 5.0” is proposed, with a preliminary judgment that “water conservancy 5.0” will be the stage of symbiotic water conservancy during 2036-2060. Its main characteristics are: relying on relatively sound water engineering construction, ecological water conservancy construction, and intelligent technology application, and taking the harmonious symbiosis of human-water relationship as the fundamental water situation, to carry out comprehensive “grand water conservancy” work. The reasons for proposing “water conservancy 5.0” are explained, and the framework of “water conservancy 5.0” is described, namely that at this stage a multi-dimensional harmonious symbiosis of water conservancy, a relatively well-developed supporting system, and a harmonious symbiosis development pattern should have been formed. Preparations to be initiated in the decade before its arrival(2025-2035) are planned in advance, including ideological, administrative, engineering, technological, and educational readiness. Finally, the key research directions of the “water conservancy 5.0” stage(2036-2060) are briefly predicted in six aspects: theory and methodology, technological research and development, ecological construction, intelligent services, engineering construction, and operational management, providing a reference for the strategic layout of water conservancy and the prediction of water science and technology development.

Evolution and implications of the indicator system for China's water conservancy development planning

Since the 12 th Five-Year Plan, the goals and indicators set out in each plan have collectively reflected the development concepts and directions of the new era. Based on publicly available policy documents on water conservancy development planning from the 12 th to the 14 th Five-Year Plan periods, this study systematically reviews and analyzes the evolutionary trajectory and structural changes of the indicator system, revealing the fundamental characteristics and transformation trends of China's water conservancy development in the new era. The results show that the indicator system has evolved from being dominated by engineering construction and water supply security to a multi-objective composite system encompassing water conservation and intensive utilization, water ecological protection and restoration, basic public services for water conservancy, and digital and intelligent governance. At present, water conservancy development in China is shifting from an engineering-dominated approach to one that balances resource conservation and ecological protection, and is further advancing toward integration with intelligent modern governance. This process reflects a transition in national water management strategy from scale expansion during the high-speed growth stage to conservation-intensive and ecologically coordinated development in the stage of high-quality growth, signifying an elevated and transformed positioning of water conservancy in the national economic strategy. A five-category analytical framework for water conservancy development planning indicator system is innovatively constructed, clarifying their evolutionary characteristics, providing a structured perspective for understanding water management logic in the new era, and offering empirical evidence and policy references for optimizing water security planning indicators and enhancing governance capacity in the 15 th Five-Year Plan period.

Source control of urban flooding and enhancement of urban resilience——practice and effectiveness of the flood safety assessment system in Guangzhou

To implement the requirements of resilient city development and promote the transformation of urban flood management from passive end-of-pipe treatment to systematic source control, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, took the national lead in 2021 by introducing a flood safety assessment system during the urban planning stage. Since its implementation, significant results have been achieved in areas such as spatial control of river networks, implementation of flood control and drainage facilities, realization of sponge storage facilities, and waterlogging management. From 2022 to 2024, through flood safety assessments in 481 regulatory detailed plans, 1001 km of planned river and lake control lines and 18.54 million m³ of sponge storage facilities were implemented. Using Guangzhou as an example, the development process and effectiveness of the flood safety assessment system were summarized, and the assessment contents and requirements were analyzed. The study shows that flood safety assessment is a key innovative mechanism to address the current urban flood dilemma: first, shifting the focus of urban flood management from post-event response to pre-event control, strengthening guidance and supervision during the planning stage, and controlling flood safety from the source; second, improving urban flood resilience through integrated measures and three-dimensional defense. Based on Guangzhou's exploratory practice, it is proposed that flood safety should be regarded as a rigid constraint in urban development, and that urban flood management should shift from adversarial defense to resilience governance, with strengthened application of flood risk analysis techniques and results in urban planning. This provides insights for resilient city development and serves as a reference for other cities in China.

Pilot studies and reflections on deep groundwater recharge and restoration in North China

Overdraft of confined deep groundwater remains a serious issue in North China, where natural recovery is difficult due to limited recharge and slow renewal of deep aquifers. This has led to the long-term existence of groundwater depression cones, further triggering a series of ecological damages and geological hazards such as ground subsidence and seawater intrusion, exerting ongoing impacts on regional production, livelihoods, and ecological security. To address the groundwater depletion caused by long-term overdraft, a coordinated “point-line-area” approach and a comprehensive governance and restoration model integrating “suppression, recharge, and reinjection” have been proposed. This paper introduces the conditions and progress of recharge experiments conducted at four established pilot sites, and summarizes the findings and outcomes of a series of thematic studies carried out in conjunction with these recharge trials. Existing challenges of the pilot projects are identified, including short experimental durations,insufficient research, unoptimized water sources, and the need for improved test site conditions. In response, several targeted recommendations are proposed: extending the duration and depth of experimental studies, optimizing recharge areas and water sources, advancing research on anti-blocking and permeability-enhancement technologies,strengthening scientific and technical support, evaluating recharge effectiveness, improving research platform infrastructure, and increasing dedicated financial support, aiming to provide experiences for systematic recharge and restoration of deep groundwater and ensure sustainable utilization of groundwater resources.

Construction of spatiotemporal multi-source and multi-scale fusion framework based on digital twin data base of irrigation districts

To address issues like varied data types, inconsistent formats, differing monitoring frequencies,mismatched geographic spatial scales, overlapping business domains, and diffculties in data fusion, this study proposes a framework and methodology for multi-source data fusion in the digital twin base of irrigation districts. The multi-source data fusion paths are elaborated from several perspectives, including integrating unifed water resource object models, object fusion(fusion of entity object relationships, oblique photography models and BIM models, vector objects and oblique photography models), feature fusion(integration of features from multi-source remote sensing data, fusion of terrain features at different resolutions), and numerical fusion(merging station monitoring data, spatial scale fusion of point and grid data, and spatiotemporal interpolation fusion of long-, medium-, and short-term rainfall grid forecast data). In the application of the Ouyanghai Irrigation District project, scenarios such as crop planting area estimation, drought monitoring using multi-source data fusion, and inundation analysis based on multi-source data fusion were implemented. These applications enable the digital twin irrigation district to achieve multi-level visibility, usability, and traceability,transitioning from overall to local perspectives, from abstraction to detail, and from two-dimensional to threedimensional representations.

Safety of river courses of middle and lower mainstreams of the Yangtze River and measure study

Safety of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River relates directly to flood control, water supply, navigation and ecology of the basin. After years of practices, great achievements have been made in improving river regime, flood control safety, ecology and navigation. Key issues were examined including failure to ciontrol high flood peak due to insufficient storage and discharge capacity, unstable conditions of local rivers and mainstreams caused by erosion and sedimentation, water level drops during dry seasons, and degradation of water environment that fail to meet the water quality requirements specified for water function zones. New situations in the new stage and under new water-sediment condition are examined. First, highquality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt makes new and higher requirements for the safety of the river. Second, erosion and sedimentation of the middle and lower reaches and the relationship between river and lake have undergone changes and will continue to be adjusted in the long term in the future. Further analysis was conducted on the characteristics of water and sediment change since the operation of the Three Gorges Dam and the evolution pattern and impact of different river type. Future trend of water and sediment and changes of river lake relationship were analyzed. In response to the existing problems, fully considering the trend of strategic adjustments in the new period, and focusing on the multi-objective synergy needs, a series of main measures have been implemented to ensure river safety, including formulating relevant laws and plans, upgrading river and canal regulation and dredging projects, improving the river lake administration and supervision system, strengthening the coordinated operation of reservoir groups, and promoting the construction of digital twin Yangtze River.

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.

The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan(2021—2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 of P. R. China

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.

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.