China’s Ministry of Water Resources held a press conference on Monday, Sept. 29, on the scope of the national water management system developed during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). Describing it as the world’s largest, most comprehensive, and most populous water infrastructure system, Minister of Water Resources Li Guoying said that, as of the end of 2024, China had built 95,000 reservoirs, 200 large- and medium-scale water diversion projects, 6,924 large- and medium-sized irrigation areas, and 318,000 kilometers of embankments.
In CGTN’s coverage, Minister Li Guoying points out that the national water network coverage-rate is expected to reach 80.3% by the end of 2025, while the irrigated area of farmland will reach 1.09 billion mu (about 73 million hectares, or 180 million acres), and the rural tap-water penetration rate will reach 96%.
Noting that the investment in water conservancy construction reached 1.35 trillion yuan ($190 billion) in 2024, Li Guoying said the total investment from 2021 to 2025 is projected to exceed 5.4 trillion yuan (nearly $800 billion), which is 1.6 times that of the previous Five-Year Plan period.
CGTN wrote yesterday: “Zhang Xiangwei, head of the ministry’s department of planning and programming, emphasized the country’s progress in intelligent dam construction. China has launched pilot projects for 12 intelligent dams and accelerated the development of a modern reservoir management system, Zhang said. Since 2021, China has completed a national platform for reservoir operation and management, equipping over 62,000 reservoirs with rainfall and hydrological monitoring and installing safety equipment at over 55,000 dam sites, significantly enhancing safety risk monitoring and forecasting capabilities.”
