Zhonghongwang.com:

As the flood control and drought relief systems have been improved in recent years, we have greater confidence to deal with flood and drought disasters. Could you introduce the achievements we have made in flood and drought disaster prevention? Also, this year the Yangtze and Pearl River basins have experienced the worst drought in the past 60 years. What has the MWR done to deal with this severe drought? What is the progress so far? Thank you. 

Yao Wenguang:

Thank you for your questions. In the past decade, the MWR has actively followed General Secretary Xi Jinping's concept of "two commitments and three transformations" in disaster prevention, reduction and relief. We have resolutely implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and continuously strengthened the building of flood and drought disaster prevention capabilities. In terms of engineering, flood control engineering systems, which consist of river channels, dykes, reservoirs, and flood storage and detention areas, have been formed and put in place for major river basins. Through comprehensive measures of "blocking, dividing, storing, delaying and draining" water, we are now able to prevent flooding on a scale equivalent to the largest that has occurred since the founding of New China. The annual water supply capacity of China's water conservancy projects has reached 890 billion cubic meters. Through comprehensive measures such as "storing, diverting and pumping" water, the safety of urban and rural water supplies have been guaranteed and losses caused by drought have been minimized. In terms of non-engineering measures, monitoring and early warning capabilities have been significantly improved. The number of hydrological stations across the country has increased from more than 70,000 in 2012 to 120,000 in 2021, and the time for collecting information from all stations has been shortened from 30 minutes to 15 minutes. The accuracy of flood forecasting for major rivers in the south and north have increased to over 90% and 70% respectively. Monitoring and early warning platforms for mountain flood disasters have been set up in 2,076 counties with disaster prevention and control tasks.

Through a combination of engineering and non-engineering measures, we have been able to overcome major floods and severe droughts. Compared with the previous decade, the average annual loss rate of flood disasters in China has dropped from 0.57% to 0.31%. We have effectively guaranteed the safety of people's lives and property, water supply and food security, and economic and social operation.

In recent years, China has experienced frequent floods and droughts, and the system of water conservancy projects and non-engineering measures have played important roles in the flood control and drought relief.

In terms of flood control, in 2021, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River experienced the worst flooding during any fall since the founding of New China. The MWR adhered to the principles of "systematic, coordinated, scientific and safe" and made great efforts to provide highly tailored responses and solutions. The MWR accurately calculated each criteria to schedule reservoir groups including the Yellow River Xiaolangdi, Luhun, Guxian, Hekou Village and other main and tributary reservoirs to block and reduce flood water flow as effectively as possible. As a result, the water flow at Huayuankou Station was controlled at around 4,800 cubic meters per second, avoiding the evacuation of 1.4 million people downstream and flooding of 3.99 million mu of farmland. We have achieved the goal of "no casualties, no flooding of flood plains and no running of dams" and won the tough battle against floods. This June, the Pearl River has experienced severe floods, and flooding in the Beijiang River has been the most severe since 1915. Water resources departments jointly scheduled 37 reservoirs, such as the Xijiang Longtan, Dateng Gorge and Beijiang Feilai Gorge, to block and reduce floods. We resolutely activated the flood storage and detention area of the Pa River and used the Beijiang Lubao Floodgate and Southwest Floodgate to divert flood water in time. Floods of the Xijiang River and Beijiang River avoided each other, and the water level and flow of important river sections were controlled within a safe range. As a result, the flood control safety of the Xijiang River Dam, Beijiang River Dam, Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta was ensured.

Drought-relief efforts: From 2021 to the spring of 2022, the East River and the Han River of the Pearl River Drainage Basin experienced the most severe drought in the past 60 years. In addition, influenced by the upstream expansion of the salty tide at the Pearl River Estuary, the drought was continuous from autumn, winter and spring and was made worse by salt. The MWR formulated emergency water regulation plans, and formed three defense lines to guarantee water supply by organizing local reservoirs to store water in a timely way. The MWR ordered nearby reservoirs to dispatch water to dilute the salt and remote reservoirs to reserve water. The MWR also delicately administered water conservancy projects like the Dateng Gorge of Xijiang River and Jiantan Dam of Dongjiang River repeatedly and replenished water for dilution to effectively inhibit the upstream flow of the salty tide at the Pearl River Estuary and guarantee the water supply in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and areas like East Guangdong and South Fujian. Since July of this year, heat waves and diminished rainfall have hit the Yangtze River Basin; the water sources of rivers and lakes have been highly scarce; the water level of rivers and lakes has continued to fall; the drought has become severe. The MWR worked out the Yangtze River Basin emergency water dispatch plan. It carried out a project entitled "coordinated command of water reservoirs in the Yangtze River Basin to resist drought and guarantee water supply." The MWR delicately utilized reservoirs near the Three Gorges Dam, namely, the cascade reservoir groups in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the reservoir groups of the main and tributary rivers named Xiang, Zi, Yuan and Li of the Dongting Lake, and Gan, Fu, Xin, Rao and Xiu of the Poyang Lake. Water conservancy departments in Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were guided by the MWR to deal with every irrigated area and each intake in cities and countryside for better water diversion, pumping and dispatching. Until now, a total of 3.57 billion cubic meters of water has been replenished in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and 356 large and middle-sized irrigated areas have irrigated a total of 1.904 million hectares of farmland. These efforts have benefited 13.85 million people and ensured water safety in drought-affected areas and the water supply for large-scale farming, livestock breeding and autumn crop planting.