China Water Resources

White water rights and green water rights in Yellow River water allocation

The Yellow River Water Allocation Scheme(the “1987 Scheme”), approved by the State Council in 1987, has been implemented for nearly 40 years and has safeguarded water resource utilization in the nine provinces(autonomous regions) along the Yellow River. At present, it is widely recognized that the scheme needs to be adjusted in accordance with domestic, production, and ecological water demands, while implementing the principle of ecological protection priority and the concept that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”. The water of the Yellow River possesses not only water resource and water commodity value but also ecological value. In this paper, the right to ecological water that embodies ecological value is defined as green water rights; correspondingly, the right to use runoff water is defined as white water rights. In the adjustment of the allocation scheme in the new era, incremental adjustment is carried out based on green water rights, in which every 333 m³ of ecological water is accounted for as one “lucid waters and lush mountains green certificate”, serving as a certificate of green water rights. Additional allocation indicators in the adjustment of the Yellow River water allocation scheme should be obtained through the purchase of green certificates, and the revenue from green certificate trading is returned to each province(autonomous region) in proportion to the number of green certificates it contributes, thereby fully reflecting the ecological value orientation. The proposed adjustment method adds a “green water rights cake”, enabling all provinces(autonomous regions) along the Yellow River to avoid losses in the adjustment of the allocation scheme; it is thus not only a methodological innovation but also a feasible implementation pathway.

People's governance of the Yellow River and ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin

The Yellow River basin occupies a highly important position in China's economic and social development and ecological security. Historically, frequent floods of the Yellow River brought profound disasters to the people living along its banks. This paper systematically reviews the history of Yellow River governance and the development trajectory of the people's governance of the Yellow River, and comprehensively summarizes the great achievements made over the past 80 years under the leadership of the Communist Party of China in flood and drought disaster prevention, conservation and intensive utilization and optimal allocation of water resources, water ecological protection and governance, and river basin governance and management. Grounded in building a great country and advancing national rejuvenation, closely aligned with the strategic requirements for ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin, and comprehensively considering the impacts of global climate change, this paper analyzes the new situations and challenges facing Yellow River protection and governance. Oriented toward the long-term development of the people's governance of the Yellow River and anchored to the goal of “making the Yellow River a river of happiness that benefits the people”, this paper systematically devises the overall approach and key measures for further improving the basin's water-sediment regulation and flood control and disaster mitigation system, the conservation and intensive utilization and optimal allocation system of water resources, the water ecological protection and governance system, and the river basin governance and management system, to provide solid support for ensuring the long-term peace and stability of the Yellow River and promoting ecological protection and high-quality development of the basin.

The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the key to historic achievements in Yellow River governance

Yellow River governance is a major proposition running through the millennia-long history of state governance in Chinese civilization. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Yellow River's rampant flooding brought profound suffering to the people along its banks. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Communist Party of China's centralized and unified leadership and its people-centered political stance anchored the cause of Yellow River governance in the right direction, enabling it to advance steadily along a track that benefits the people, safeguards people's livelihoods, and promotes the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature. The notable strength of the socialist system in pooling resources to complete major missions effectively resolved the problems of fragmented administration and dispersed efforts in cross-regional, cross-departmental, and cross-sectoral governance, enabling the cause of Yellow River governance to advance efficiently within the framework of nationwide coordination. Strong organizational and mobilization capacity and strategic perseverance sustained over the long term have organically unified government leadership, social coordination, and public participation, converging into a mighty force of whole-people Yellow River governance that turns the development blueprint into reality and ensuring that all endeavors in Yellow River governance maintain continuity, systematicness, and stability. Over the 80 years of people's governance of the Yellow River, the river has achieved a historic transformation from millennia of flooding to yearafter-year tranquility, and from a “river of sorrow” to a “river of happiness”. The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the key to the historic achievements in Yellow River governance, and it also provides solid guarantees for promoting ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin in the new era.

Economic development and ecological civilization construction in the Yellow River basin: coupling effects, practical bottlenecks, and optimization pathways

The ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin constitute a major national strategy of China, bearing on the overall situation of ecological security and coordinated regional development in northern China. To clarify the laws governing the coupled development of ecology and economy in the basin and to resolve the dilemmas of synergistic development, this paper takes the iterative evolution of Yellow River governance concepts since the founding of the People's Republic of China as its temporal thread, systematically reviews the evolutionary trajectory of the basin from emphasizing both governance and development to prioritizing ecological protection and pursuing green, high-quality development, and summarizes the inherent laws of synergistic development between ecology and economy. From multiple dimensions, including ecological restoration, industrial transformation, and typical cases, the paper assesses the coupling effects of ecological-economic development in the basin and conducts an in-depth analysis of practical bottlenecks such as weak ecological carrying capacity, an extensive industrial structure, and the absence of cross-regional collaborative governance mechanisms. Based on systems coupling theory, the paper elucidates the mechanism of bidirectional empowerment and dynamic circulation between ecological protection and the green economy, and constructs a comprehensive optimization pathway featuring “ecological consolidation, industrial upgrading, institutional synergy, and technological empowerment”. The research demonstrates that ecological protection and economic development in the Yellow River basin have achieved a transformation from separation and opposition to benign coupling, and that bidirectional synergy and dynamic balance constitute the core essence of high-quality development in the basin. Compared with existing studies that mostly focus on a single ecological or economic dimension, the paper adopts a whole-basin systemic perspective to reveal the closed-loop operational logic of the ecology-economy-society system. The research findings can provide support for the deep integrated development of the ecological economy in the Yellow River basin, and simultaneously offer theoretical references and practical paradigms for collaborative governance of similar ecologically fragile regions in China.

Achievements and prospects of ensuring the safety of the Yellow River

The Yellow River is one of the world's most complex rivers in terms of water-sediment relationships and governance challenges. Since the initiation of people's governance of the Yellow River in 1946, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the protection and governance of the Yellow River has achieved a historic transformation from passive response to proactive governance. A basin-wide flood control engineering system following the principle of “retaining floods in the upper reaches, discharging floods in the lower reaches, and diverting and storing floods on both banks” has been basically completed. The Lanzhou reach in the upper reaches can withstand a 100-year return period flood; the river regime in the middle reaches has been preliminarily controlled; and the lower reaches can withstand a flood discharge of 22,000 m³/s at the Huayuankou Hydrological Station. The basin has successfully withstood 12 major floods with discharges exceeding 10,000 m³/s at Huayuankou Hydrological Station, as well as the most severe autumn flood in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River since the founding of the People's Republic of China, which occurred in 2021. No levee breach has occurred during the 80 years of major summer and autumn flood seasons, and effective ice flood control measures have been established. Through innovative integrated water-sediment regulation, a total of 33 water and sediment regulation operations have been implemented. These operations have scoured 2.17 billion m³ of sediment from the lower river channel, lowered the main channel bed by an average of 3.1 m, and restored the minimum conveyance capacity of the main channel to approximately 5,000 m³/s. The joint sediment flushing operation of key reservoirs in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River has also been explored. At present, weaknesses still exist in the flood prevention and disaster reduction system of the Yellow River basin, and the water-sediment regulation engineering system remains incomplete. Extreme rainstorms and flood disasters induced by climate change place higher demands on the resilience and safety of flood control in the basin. In the future, it is necessary to strengthen flood control engineering governance in the basin, improve the monitoring and forecasting system for rainfall, water regime, and sediment regime, optimize the work system for flood and drought disaster prevention, enhance risk prevention and control of flood disasters, and promote the modernization of disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief capabilities in the Yellow River basin. These efforts will provide support for ensuring the long-term safety of the Yellow River and the high-quality development of the basin.

Key issues in the construction of Yudiba dam systems on the Loess Plateau and countermeasures for enhancing safety resilience under new circumstances

Against the backdrop of frequent extreme rainstorms,this study introduces the theory of dam system equilibrium to enhance the safety resilience of Yudiba dam systems on the Loess Plateau.With multiobjective synergy as the analytical framework,a diagnostic system is established that encompasses three dimensions:risk cascading and system resilience,spatiotemporal optimization,and water-sediment-agriculturestability coupling.The "7·15" dam-break event involving the Zhujiawan Yudiba dam in the Tangjia River basin is examined as a case study.The results reveal several key problems in current dam system construction,including a lack of systematic planning and layout,uncoordinated design standards,low construction standards,insufficient funding for operation and maintenance,and inadequate monitoring facilities.These problems essentially stem from a systemic departure from multi-objective synergy among water,sediment,agriculture,and stability,as well as a failure to incorporate core principles relating to risk cascading,system resilience,and spatiotemporal optimization.The Zhujiawan dam-break case further indicates that designing individual dams without considering the dam system as a whole is a major cause of risk cascading.The two-component structure(the dam body and the water-release structure) without a spillway lacks adequate safety margin under rainstorms exceeding the design standard,and the resulting dam-break flood subjects downstream dams and reservoirs to impacts far exceeding their design standards.This exposes a gap in the design specifications for cascade dam systems:upstream dam-break floods are not adequately considered as design input conditions for downstream dams.In addition,the cumulative effect of spatiotemporal imbalance is irreversible,with upstream reservoirs rapidly filling with sediment while downstream reservoirs remain underfilled for prolonged periods,resulting in overall sediment retention efficiency below design expectations.Under the new circumstances,enhancing the safety resilience of Yudiba dam systems on the Loess Plateau requires coordinated efforts in five areas:optimizing planning and layout,improving construction quality,innovating operation and maintenance mechanisms,strengthening monitoring and early warning,and improving policy systems.These efforts aim to build a full-chain resilience enhancement framework covering planning,construction,operation and maintenance,monitoring,and policy,and to provide theoretical support and practical references for floodseason safety and high-quality development of Yudiba dam systems.

Application scenarios and prospects of low Earth orbit internet satellites in water conservancy

As critical national space infrastructure and a strategic public resource, low Earth orbit(LEO) internet satellites, with their core advantages of wide coverage, low latency, high reliability, and strong resilience, together with their integrated communication-navigation-remote sensing service capability, provide novel technical support for the high-quality development of the water conservancy and the construction of smart water conservancy. At present, the water conservancy sector still faces challenges in core scenarios such as routine monitoring data acquisition and transmission and emergency response to sudden-onset floods and droughts, including blind spots in monitoring coverage, unstable data transmission, poor data sharing, and weak emergency communication, making it difficult to meet the development requirements of full-domain perception, rapid response, and intelligent decision-making. Based on the above industry needs, this paper systematically examined the correspondence between current pain points in the water conservancy and the capability supply of the new-generation space infrastructure. Drawing on the capabilities of LEO internet satellites in integrated communication, remote sensing, and navigation, as well as signals-of-opportunity remote sensing applications, it analyzed their compatibility with water conservancy business requirements from four dimensions: widearea coverage and low-latency communication, large-capacity data transmission, rapid emergency response, and communication-remote sensing integration. On this basis, the paper explored typical integrated application scenarios such as routine monitoring assurance, emergency disaster response, and cross-regional coordination, and proposed key technology innovation paths for water conservancy business integration, aiming to promote the deep integration of LEO internet satellites with water conservancy, comprehensively enhance water security assurance capabilities and the level of digital water governance, and provide a reference for the construction of smart water conservancy and the development of new quality productive forces in water conservancy.

Thoughts on renovation and upgrading of aging reservoirs and key technical issues in preliminary work

China has a large number of reservoirs, including many high dams, with long dam ages and a high proportion of earth-rock dams. Aging problems are becoming increasingly prominent, and coupled with climate change and changes in the downstream environment of reservoirs, reservoir safety faces new risks and challenges. Based on the new situation and new requirements of reservoir safety assurance, this paper proposed an overall approach to the renovation and upgrading of aging reservoirs, and clarified four relationships that need to be coordinated, namely those between aging and safety, between renovation and upgrading and hazard elimination and reinforcement, between priority and generality, and between engineering and non-engineering measures. On this basis, the concepts and ideas for renovation and upgrading were systematically elaborated, with emphasis on failure-consequence analysis, strengthened risk assessment, enhanced safety resilience, improvement of the reservoirs themselves, and improved monitoring and forecasting systems. Key issues that require attention in preliminary work were further proposed from the aspects of strengthening design flood review, scientifically determining flood control standards, strengthening multi-scheme comparison and demonstration, attaching importance to the safeguard of environmental impact assessment and land acquisition and resettlement elements, and coordinating routine management and maintenance with defense against floods, exceeding design standards, to provide technical support for vigorously, orderly, and effectively advancing the renovation and upgrading of aging reservoirs.

Safety risks analysis and countermeasures for aging reservoirs

In recent years, affected by natural disasters such as heavy rainfall and floods, a small number of aging reservoirs have experienced emergencies or even dam breaches, causing loss of life and property and sounding a serious alarm for the safety management of aging reservoirs. At present, countermeasures for addressing the risks and challenges of aging reservoirs remain inadequate and insufficiently targeted, and it is urgently necessary to systematically analyze the safety hazards and risk challenges of aging reservoirs and comprehensively enhance their safe operation capacity. Focusing on the characteristics of aging reservoirs, which include high proportions, poor engineering foundation conditions, and increasingly prominent aging problems, this paper analyzed the risks and challenges they face and their causes, and proposed targeted countermeasures for enhancing the safe operation capacity of aging reservoirs and preventing dam failures. According to this study, aging reservoirs face core problems including inadequate flood control standards, a mismatch between flood control capacity and the importance of downstream flood protection objects, severe engineering aging, insufficient safety resilience, lagging monitoring and early warning capacity, an incomplete emergency response mechanism, and insufficient emergency handling capacity. It is recommended that risk screening and assessment of aging reservoirs be carried out, that equal importance be attached to engineering and non-engineering measures, that consolidating the safety foundation be combined with enhancing safety resilience, and that human defense be combined with technical defense, so as to comprehensively and systematically advance the upgrading of the safe operation capacity of aging reservoirs and firmly safeguard the safety bottom line of aging reservoirs.

Basic directions, practical paths, and quality improvement countermeasures for institutional reform of operation and maintenance of aging reservoirs

Reservoirs are essential infrastructure for river basin flood control, urban and rural water supply, and agricultural irrigation. In view of the situation that nearly 80% of China's existing 94,300 reservoirs were built between the 1950s and 1970s and that more than 65% have exceeded their reasonable service life, as well as prominent problems such as aging and disrepair of infrastructure, outdated facilities and equipment, and insufficient operation and maintenance(O&M) capacity, this paper analyzed the many new challenges confronting the O&M of aging reservoirs, including the compounding of aging infrastructure and weak O&M forces, the coexistence of unduly low management levels with decentralized management, the frequent occurrence of extreme weather events, and the insufficient application of science and technology. It was proposed that deepening the institutional reform of O&M must adhere to systems thinking, take the strict implementation of O&M responsibilities as the guiding force, implement elevated-level management in light of local conditions, deepen county-wide unified management, strengthen professional management and maintenance, enhance digital and intelligent development, and improve the O&M system covering the whole life cycle of reservoir operation. Practical pathways such as county-wide unified management, participation of social forces, large reservoirs leading small ones, technology empowerment, and closed-loop responsibility management were summarized and distilled. Drawing on examples from Xuyi in Jiangsu, Anxi in Fujian, Jingshan in Hubei, Zhejiang Province, and Wugang in Hunan, the paper expounded the ways to transform the management and maintenance model from decentralized and extensive to intensive and efficient and from traditional management to modern governance, and proposed measures concerning organizational leadership, funding guarantees, workforce development, standard-compliance building, and assessment and supervision. The findings are of certain significance for improving the quality of O&M of aging reservoirs, consolidating rehabilitation achievements, and ensuring the long-term safe operation of reservoirs.

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

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...

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.

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

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