On December 12, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the progress and effectiveness of water conservancy infrastructure construction in 2023, Zhang Xiangwei, director of the Planning and Planning Department of the Ministry of Water Resources, introduced at the meeting that the "National Water Network Construction Planning Outline" is to comprehensively improve the national water security capacity as the goal, in accordance with the general requirements of accelerating the construction of a "complete system, safe and reliable, intensive and efficient, green and intelligent, smooth circulation, and orderly regulation and control", the construction goals by 2025 and 2035 are proposed. On the basis of the start of a number of major national water network projects last year, since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Water Resources, in conjunction with relevant departments and localities, has focused on networking, network replenishment and chain strengthening, and made every effort to promote the construction of national water network projects, serve the implementation of major national strategies, and promote high-quality economic and social development. Specifically, important progress has been made in three areas.
The first is to speed up the construction of the main arteries and backbone water transmission and drainage channels of the national water network. As far as the main arteries are concerned, we will speed up the progress of the construction of the middle line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project to divert the river to supplement the Han River, which started construction in July last year, opened the curtain on the follow-up project of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, and accelerated the improvement of the main skeleton and artery of the national water network. As far as the backbone water transmission and drainage channels are concerned, while promoting a number of major water diversion projects under construction, 15 projects of the backbone water transmission and drainage channels of the national water network, such as the backbone project of the Jilin water network and the allocation of water resources in Guangxi around the Beibu Gulf, have also started this year. In August last year, the project started in August last year for the Guangdong water resources allocation project around the Beibu Gulf, which supplies water from Dixin Village in Xijiang to Zhanjiang, Yunfu, and other areas on the Leizhou Peninsula to solve the problem of water shortage on the Leizhou Peninsula, and the water resources allocation project in Guangxi around the Beibu Gulf, which started this year, will solve the problem of water supply security in Nanning, Qinzhou, Chongzuo, and other water-scarce areas. These 15 backbone water transmission and drainage channel projects of the national water network will optimize the allocation pattern of regional water resources. For example, the backbone project of Jilin water network, which started this year, is the water diversion project with the longest water transmission line, the widest water-receiving area, and the largest project investment scale in the history of Jilin Province, benefiting 8.65 million people, and will alleviate the water shortage situation in the central and western regions of Jilin.
The second is to vigorously promote the major node projects of the national water network. Since the beginning of this year, 14 large-scale reservoirs have been newly started, including Sichuan Sanba, Yunnan Taoyuan, Anhui Fenghuangshan, Hebei Qingshan, and Hubei Yaojiaping, which are also major node projects of the national water network, which will play a sequential role in the national, regional and provincial water networks, and will effectively enhance the ability to regulate and control resources. In addition, four large-scale irrigation areas have also been started, focusing on the requirements of new grain production capacity to improve the level of national food security.
The third is to systematically promote the planning and construction of provincial and municipal water networks. At present, the provincial water network construction plan of 31 provinces has been completed. In August last year, the Ministry of Water Resources identified seven provinces and autonomous regions as the first batch of provincial-level water network pilot areas. Over the past year, the pilot area has formed a number of typical experiences in organization and promotion, water network planning, major project construction, integrated development of water network, institutional and mechanism innovation, digital twin water network, etc., and has played a pioneering role. In September this year, the Ministry of Water Resources launched the second batch of provincial water network pilot areas and the first batch of city and county level, from the water network structure, including national, provincial, municipal and county-level water networks, and finally formed a complete network, this time launched the first batch of city and county-level pilot area water network construction, under the demonstration of the pilot area, all over the country to speed up the construction of urban and rural integration, interconnected water network system, open up flood control and drainage and water resources allocation of the "last kilometer".
Editor: Xie Botao Editor-in-charge: Liu Liang.