China has flexed its engineering muscles 💪 by building the world’s largest water infrastructure network during its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), officials announced this week. With 95,000 reservoirs, 200+ water diversion projects, and enough embankments to wrap around Earth 8 times 🌍, the country is rewriting the playbook on water management.
Investment Milestones & Farmland Wins
Water conservancy spending hit a record-breaking 1.35 trillion yuan ($190B) in 2024 alone—think of it as 3x the annual revenue of Netflix 🎥! Total FYP investments are projected to smash 5.4 trillion yuan, fueling projects that now irrigate 73 million hectares of farmland. Rural tap water access has reached 96%, proving clean H2O isn’t just an urban luxury.
Tech Meets Tradition
From AI-powered dams to a national reservoir monitoring platform, China’s blending ancient water wisdom with 21st-century tech. Over 62,000 reservoirs now have real-time rainfall tracking—like Fitbits for waterways ⌚. Pilot 'smart dams' could soon make floods and droughts a thing of the past.
Why It Matters
These projects aren’t just concrete and pipes: they’re safeguarding food security (1.09B mu of irrigated land = 🍚 for millions), boosting climate resilience, and bridging urban-rural gaps. As Minister Li Guoying noted, 'Water is the lifeline of national development.' 💬
Reference(s):
China highlights water infrastructure achievements during 14th FYP
cgtn.com