At a press briefing on Monday, Li Guoying, minister of Water Resources, unveiled China’s sweeping water conservancy milestones under the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025). With ambitions to reshape the nation’s water landscape, officials say China has now built the world’s largest, most comprehensive and most populous water infrastructure system.
- Record-breaking reservoirs: 95,000 reservoirs completed to date, paired with 200 large- and medium-scale water diversion projects.
- Irrigation expansion: 6,924 irrigation areas span 1.09 billion mu (73 million hectares) of farmland.
- Network coverage: Embankments stretch over 318,000 km, pushing national water network coverage to 80.3% by end of 2025.
- Rural access: 96% of rural households now enjoy tap water, closing the urban–rural gap.
Behind these numbers lies more than just steel and concrete. Li highlights that investments topped 1 trillion yuan in 2022 for the first time and soared to 1.35 trillion yuan ($190 billion) in 2024 alone. Overall funding from 2021 to 2025 is on track to exceed 5.4 trillion yuan—1.6 times the total during the previous plan.
These projects are pivotal for stabilizing grain production, securing harvests and boosting quality of life across both urban megacities and remote villages. “This infrastructure is the backbone of our national strategies,” Li said, “ensuring water security and climate resilience for millions.”
On the tech front, Zhang Xiangwei, head of planning & programming, spotlighted progress in intelligent dam construction. Since 2021, pilot work on 12 smart dams has kicked off, and more than 62,000 reservoirs are now connected to a national operation platform. Over 55,000 dam sites feature real-time safety equipment, sharpening China’s risk monitoring and forecasting power.
As climate pressures mount worldwide, this fusion of massive scale and digital intelligence positions China as a case study in next-gen water management—one that global tech entrepreneurs, policy makers and sustainability champions will be watching closely.
Reference(s):
China highlights water infrastructure achievements during 14th FYP
cgtn.com
