China Water Resources

Advances in fundamental turbulence research and its promotion of applied research

In the context of global climate change and the increasing frequency of extreme hydrological events, energy transformation and ecological governance impose higher demands on reducing energy consumption, improving system efficiency, and fostering new quality productive forces. Focusing on the core objectives of “scientific innovation” and “energy consumption reduction”, this study proceeded from fundamental turbulence theory and systematically elucidated the guiding role of fundamental research breakthroughs in applied research and engineering technology development. By introducing a turbulence framework grounded in the physics of eddy motions, the limitations of the classical mixing length theory were overcome, and new analytical formulations for velocity distribution, turbulence intensity, sediment concentration distribution, and flow resistance were derived, overcoming the theoretical deficiencies of the classical logarithmic velocity profile and the Rouse equation in the near-wall region and near the free surface. The proposed sediment-carrying capacity formula is applicable not only to ordinary sediment-laden flows but also to high-sediment-concentration flows. These results enrich the theoretical foundations of hydraulics and river dynamics, promote theoretical advances in key river research issues such as water-sediment transport in the Yellow River, mobile-bed resistance, and model similarity laws, strengthen the academic support for the analysis of the prototype Yellow River, and provide strong support for the construction of the “Three Yellow Rivers”. Moreover, the proposed framework demonstrates significant interdisciplinary application potential in areas including industrial pipeline transport, aeolian sand control, atmospheric and ecological process modeling, and energy-efficiency optimization of aeroengines. The findings indicate that advances in fundamental turbulence research can effectively support systemlevel energy-efficiency improvements, providing important scientific evidence for the coordinated advancement of energy transition, watershed ecological governance, and climate change adaptation.

Evaluation on implementation effect of Standard for Flood Control(GB 50201) from a multi-dimensional collaborative perspective

Evaluation of the implementation effect of standards is an important support for the whole-life-cycle management of standards and the high-quality development of the industry. As a basic national standard among water technical standards, the Standard for Flood Control(GB 50201) has not yet developed a systematic and standardized methodology for evaluating its implementation effect, and the evaluation dimensions, index system, and implementation path still need to be improved. Based on the three-dimensional collaborative perspective of standard life cycle, standard-related subjects, and standard service items, combined with the technical characteristics of the water conservancy industry, this paper constructed an implementation effect evaluation system using methods such as the Delphi method, ranking method, analytic hierarchy process, and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The system consists of three modules, namely standard technical content, implementation status, and comprehensive benefits, comprising 13 indicators. It defined the evaluation process, weight calculation method, and grade classification rules. An empirical evaluation was conducted using the Standard for Flood Control(GB 50201) as the research object. The results show that the overall implementation effect score of the standard is 93.22, and the evaluation grade is excellent. The scores of technical content, implementation status, and comprehensive benefits are all higher than 93, and the application effect is good in typical projects in different river basins. The evaluation also clearly identified specific issues of the standard, including insufficient coverage of new protection objects, weak provisions for extreme scenarios, lagging requirements for ecological flood control, lack of regional differentiation, and poor operability of some indicators. The evaluation system constructed in this paper can provide a basis for the revision and improvement of the Standard for Flood Control(GB 50201) and can also serve as a methodological reference and technical reference for evaluating the implementation effectiveness of other water conservancy technical standards.

Research and practical application of techniques for improving real-time performance of flood risk map deduction

The national flood risk map compilation project for 2024–2025 has put forward new requirements for the development of real-time dynamic deduction capabilities, aiming to enhance the practical support capacity of the forecasting, warning, rehearsal, and contingency planning applications for flood and drought disaster prevention. Traditional serial processing modes for flood risk deduction suffer from slow response speed and poor real-time performance, which fail to meet the timely and efficient demands of flood control scheduling and decision-making. This paper conducted technical research on improving the real-time performance of flood risk map deduction. Based on the research and development practice of a real-time dynamic deduction platform for flood risk maps, this paper systematically sorted out the entire business process of flood risk deduction and identified performance bottlenecks in key links, including scheme loading, model calculation, data access, and visual rendering. By integrating key technologies such as high-performance computing, efficient data access, and server-side background rendering, this paper innovatively constructed a parallel processing architecture consisting of computation flow, data access flow, and rendering flow, which broke the traditional technical mode that performs rendering only after the completion of full model calculation. The optimized technical solution has improved the interactive experience and practical application effectiveness of the system platform and has been applied in real-time dynamic flood risk map deduction platforms of the Ministry of Water Resources, the Taihu Lake basin, and Anhui Province. By taking the 250,000-grid deduction scenario of the Mengwa Flood Detention Area as a case study, the results show that compared with the 15-minute waiting time for presenting flood analysis results in the traditional mode, the proposed architecture can output the first frame of deduction visualization results within 20 seconds, with each subsequent frame updated in only 2 seconds. It supports arbitrary suspension and termination of the deduction process, effectively improving the flexibility and timeliness of flood control decision support, providing a technical reference for the construction of real-time dynamic deduction platforms for flood risk maps in other provinces and basins nationwide.

Research and prospects of wireless communication technology for termite monitoring

Termite hazards in water conservancy projects are highly concealed and destructive, easily leading to dike leakage, piping, and even dam breaches. Aiming at core scientific issues in complex field scenarios of water conservancy projects, namely the contradiction between long-distance realiable communication and ultra-low energy consumption constraints, the lack of a theoretical model for adaptive decision-making in multi-mode heterogeneous networks, and the difficulty in coordinating lightweight state cryptography encryption and sub-meter positioning on low energy consumption hardware, this paper established three theoretical models, including communication link budget, terminal energy consumption, and multimode Markov decision-making, and proposed an integrated scheme with long distance, low energy consumption, multi-mode fusion, and high-security positioning features. The scheme focused on four key technologies: broadband WiFi long-distance transmission with joint radio frequency-baseband optimization, lightweight LSTM-based intelligent power scheduling, lightweight state cryptographic security transmission, and Q-learning-based adaptive switching for multi-mode communication. A three-layer architecture consisting of sensing terminals, a multi-mode communication network, and a management and application platform was established. Three benchmark systems, NB-IoT, LoRa-only, and 802.11 ah WiFi, were designed, and laboratory tests along with a 12-month field trial were conducted. Results show that the line-of-sight transmission distance of broadband WiFi reaches 800 m(50% higher than 802.11 ah); the average power consumption is reduced to 0.85 mA(over 70% lower than traditional schemes); the positioning accuracy is 2 m; the data transmission success rate is 99.2%, and the communication switching success rate is 99.5%. The scheme can operate stably under extreme weather. The research findings can provide theoretical and technical support for scenarios such as intelligent termite monitoring, levee safety monitoring, and reservoir seepage pressure monitoring, contributing to the improvement of the comprehensive perception system for smart water conservancy.

Design and practice of a termite monitoring and early warning system for water conservancy projects

Termite hazards are concealed, persistent, and capable of evolving rapidly into structural risks, making them a major hidden threat to the safe operation of earth-rock dams, earth embankments, and other water conservancy projects. To address the high dependence on manual inspection, insufficient monitoring coverage, scattered data resources, delayed risk warning, and weak cross-level coordination in existing termite control practices, this paper designed and implemented a termite monitoring and early warning system for water conservancy projects. Based on a “cloud-edge-terminal” collaborative architecture, the system established a business framework consisting of intelligent front-end monitoring devices, edge gateways, a cloud-based data governance and intelligent analysis platform, a situation display and command center, and mobile applications. It supported real-time collection, transmission, storage, analysis, early warning, and disposal feedback of termite activity data. Based on the unified access of multi-source heterogeneous sensing data, it integrated the functions of the Internet of Things, GIS, big data analysis, visualization, and mobile inspection; a hierarchical situation display and collaborative response mechanism was designed for multi-level scenarios at the national, provincial, municipal, and county levels, forming a closed loop of “monitoring, analysis, early warning, response, and evaluation”. In January 2024, the system was deployed across more than 50 reservoirs in multiple locations in Jiangxi Province. The equipment operation rate reached 98.26%, with a total of 426 warnings issued. The on-site verification and treatment rate reached 100%, and the efficiency was improved by 60% compared with traditional prevention methods. The warning accuracy increased to over 98.5%; the false warning rate was controlled within 1.5%, and the missed warning rate was reduced to within 4%. The study shows that the system enhances the capabilities of termite hazard identification, risk early warning, and collaborative prevention and control, providing technical support for the transformation of termite prevention and control in water conservancy projects from experience-based management to digital, networked, and intelligent management.

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.

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.

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