China Water Resources

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.