China has built a world-leading national water network, providing a solid guarantee for economic and social development across the country, according to data from the Ministry of Water Resources.
Sunday marks the 34th World Water Day.
Latest data from the ministry showed that China's national water network now covers 80.3 percent of the country's land area, making it the largest, most comprehensive and most widely utilized water infrastructure system in the world.
The country has built around 95,000 reservoirs and dams, with a combined storage capacity exceeding one trillion cubic meters. It ranks first globally in terms of reservoir diversity, total number, and the number of high dams.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025), China launched construction of 181 major water conservancy projects, with total investment in the sector reaching 5.68 trillion yuan (about 824.81 billion U.S. dollars).
It has also established the world's largest rural water supply system, serving the largest population. Nationwide, rural tap water coverage has reached 96 percent, while large-scale water supply projects now benefit 71 percent of the rural population.
In addition, China's national water network now links southern and northern regions. Over 87 billion cubic meters of water have been transferred north through the first phase of the eastern and middle routes of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project, benefiting 195 million people, according to the ministry.
"The Ministry of Water Resources has conducted research and feasibility studies on the western route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, and has constructed a number of major water diversion projects, including the Yangtze River-to-Hanjiang River diversion project, a follow-up project to the middle route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project, and Sichuan's Dadu River-to-Minjiang River diversion project. The ministry aims to keep pushing forward large-scale and high-level construction of water conservancy infrastructure in 2026, ensuring a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan period," said Li Ming, director of the planning and programming department at the Ministry of Water Resources.
The ministry said China will also implement the second phase of major river restoration initiative.
The country will also systematically plan and advance the construction of a digital-twin water conservancy system, while accelerating the development of a remote-sensing satellite constellation for water conservancy.
The application of new monitoring methods, such as water conservancy rainfall radar, multi-payload drones, and the BeiDou navigation satellite system, will be further expanded to ensure water security.
China builds world-leading water network to support modernization
