China to increasingly deploy digital tech in water resources management

China will accelerate the digital transformation of water resources management during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), building on major advances in water infrastructure, disaster prevention and water conservation over the past five years, a senior water official said on Saturday.

Yu Qiyang, chief planner of the Ministry of Water Resources, made the remarks at the IWHR Water Science Conference, held at the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research in Beijing.

The 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) saw a substantial and sustained increase in investment in water conservancy, Yu said. China completed 5.68 trillion yuan ($852 billion) in water conservancy investment during the period, with annual investment exceeding 1 trillion yuan for four consecutive years from 2022 to 2025.

The total was about 2.8 times the investment during the 12th Five-Year Plan period and 1.6 times that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, providing strong financial support for the development of the country's water resources, he added.

China also strengthened its capacity to prevent floods and droughts during the past five years. The country reinforced 17,998 reservoirs with safety risks and carried out systematic improvements to 3,741 small and medium-sized rivers.

Water authorities successfully responded to 55 numbered floods on major rivers, with no breaches reported along key levees and no reservoir failures for four consecutive years. The average annual direct economic losses caused by floods and droughts fell to 0.17 percent of GDP during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, down from 0.28 percent during the previous five-year period, Yu said.

A numbered flood is declared when a key hydrological station records water levels that reach preset warning thresholds on a major river.

Construction of the national water network also accelerated, Yu said. A total of 181 major water projects began construction. By the end of 2025, the national water network had covered 80.3 percent of the country, while newly completed water projects added 31.8 billion cubic meters of water supply capacity.

Progress was also made in water conservation. Water consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP and per 10,000 yuan of industrial value added fell by 21.4 percent and 29 percent, respectively, from their levels at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Yu said.

Looking ahead, Yu outlined eight trends expected to shape water development over the next five years, including a more interconnected national water network, increasingly digital regulation, greener development, more precise flood control and more efficient water use.

He placed particular emphasis on digitalization, saying emerging technologies are reshaping how water infrastructure is monitored, operated and regulated.

"We are now in an era of digital intelligence. Artificial intelligence is rapidly moving from the digital world into the physical world and profoundly reshaping the development patterns, operating models and technological systems of different sectors," Yu said.

China has accelerated the development of an integrated monitoring and sensing system covering the sky, air, land, water and water projects.

Over the past five years, the Ministry of Water Resources has collected information on 26 million elements across 72 categories of physical water-related objects, laying a data foundation for digital management.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, efforts should focus on improving data collection and sharing, strengthening data governance and better integrating real-time monitoring with professional water models, Yu said. General-purpose artificial intelligence models and specialized models for the water sector should be developed in parallel and refined through practical applications.

Yu also called for coordinated development of digital twins for river basins, the national water network and individual water projects. These systems could improve forecasting, early warning, scenario simulation and contingency planning, enabling authorities to identify risks earlier and make more precise decisions on flood control, water allocation and infrastructure operations.

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn