China plans to add 15 billion cubic meters of reservoir storage capacity and raise the compliance rate of key flood-control dikes to 91 percent by the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), as part of efforts to strengthen flood control and disaster mitigation, Water Resources Minister Li Guoying said on Wednesday.
The country will strengthen the flood-control system by expanding reservoirs, river channels, dikes and flood storage and detention areas, while improving monitoring and forecasting networks, Li said at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office.
China has accelerated the construction of its modern water network this year. From January to September, China implemented 41,400 water conservancy projects and completed 795 billion yuan ($118.6 billion) in water infrastructure investment, the minister said.
The projects have helped strengthen flood, water, food and ecological security, he said.
During this year's flood season, 9,228 operations involving medium- and large-sized reservoirs were carried out to manage flooding. The reservoirs helped control floods on 998 rivers that exceeded warning levels and 49 rivers that recorded their largest floods since measurements began.
The reservoirs held back 137.5 billion cu m of floodwater, helping prevent flooding in 1,165 towns and 710,000 hectares of farmland and avoiding the need for 5.81 million evacuations.
Climate change is making flood-control efforts more difficult, Li said, as extreme rainfall and flooding become more frequent and the location, timing and intensity of major flood disasters become harder to predict.
"During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, a prominent feature of flood disasters will be uncertainty," Li said.
To address the challenge, China will build more flood-control reservoirs, upgrade aging and high-risk ones, strengthen river dikes and channel management, as well as improve the construction of flood storage and detention areas.
The government will also optimize hydrological monitoring networks and improve forecasting models to create a more integrated monitoring and forecasting system, extending the warning lead time and improving the accuracy and timeliness of flood forecasts, Li said.
In addition to building a more integrated flood-control system, China seeks to improve water allocation and supply networks.
The government will also accelerate the modernization of irrigation districts and rural water-supply facilities, while improving the efficiency and reliability of water distribution.
China aims to expand irrigated farmland by 2.67 million hectares and increase the rural tap water coverage rate to 98 percent by the end of the five-year period.
Since the beginning of the year, nearly 200 billion cu m of water has been supplied for irrigation. "Farmland under irrigation produced 88 percent of the summer grain output," Li said.
On ecological protection, efforts will be made to restore rivers and lakes, control groundwater overexploitation and reduce soil erosion, Li said. "An additional 310,000 square kilometers of soil erosion will be treated by the end of the five-year period," he said.
The country will also build a digital twin of the national water network, integrating satellite, radar, ground and water-engineering monitoring systems with digital models and platforms capable of forecasting, issuing warnings and supporting emergency plans, he added.
