China Unveils World's Largest Water Infrastructure System

(MENAFN) On Monday, China revealed the completion of what it describes as the world’s "largest, most comprehensive" water management system.

According to state media, the total financial commitment to water conservancy developments throughout the 2021–2025 period is projected to surpass 5.4 trillion yuan ($757 billion).

As reported by an English-language publication, Water Resources Minister Li Guoying noted that this investment during the 14th Five-Year Plan represents a 60% increase compared to the funds allocated during the previous (13th) Five-Year Plan, which spanned from 2016 to 2020.

Since the implementation of the current development strategy, China has launched 172 large-scale water initiatives across the country.

These efforts aim to enhance the distribution, framework, and integration of the nation's water-related infrastructure.

By the conclusion of 2024, the country had developed a vast system comprising 95,000 reservoirs, 200 significant water diversion undertakings, 6,924 irrigation zones, and a total of 318,000 kilometers (approximately 197,596 miles) of levees.

Authorities claim this configuration stands at the forefront globally in terms of scale, effectiveness, and the number of people it serves.

Minister Li also emphasized China’s progress in improving its systems for managing floods and droughts.

He highlighted that the nation now possesses 185.6 billion cubic meters of storage space in its reservoirs for flood control.

Additionally, dikes now offer protection for 660 million citizens, and the overall national flood retention capacity has reached 109 billion cubic meters.

Furthermore, since the onset of the current five-year plan, the proportion of flood-related losses relative to the gross domestic product (GDP) has decreased from 0.28% to 0.18%, according to Li.

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