At six o'clock in the morning, the canal water in the Dabie Mountains of western Anhui flowed along the main canal of the Pishihang Irrigation District, passing through the 100 acre rice fields of Wang Jianguo, a grain grower in the Yu'an District of Lu'an. He was staring at the irrigation monitoring interface on his phone, and with a gentle tap of his fingertips, the intelligent gate in the field accurately controlled the flow of water. In the past, watering relied on experience and weather conditions. Canal water was either insufficient or flooded. Now, with digital scheduling, 30 cubic meters of water can be saved per mu of land, and grain production can increase by 10%! "Wang Jianguo's exclamation is a vivid epitome of the upcoming great changes in the Pishihang Irrigation District. Recently, the modernization project of the Pishi Hang Irrigation Area, with a total investment of over 19 billion yuan, has officially started. This "artificial water vein" that carries the memory of the Jianghuai people for more than half a century of water management and agricultural development will be revitalized through the construction of a digital water network to protect the granary.

Digital empowerment brings new life to 'long vines and melons'

The Pishihang Irrigation Area was founded in 1958 and is a super large irrigation area designed and constructed independently after the founding of the People's Republic of China. With a unique engineering layout of "long vines and melons", it introduced water sources from the Dabie Mountains into the central Anhui Plain, completely rewriting the history of "nine droughts in ten years" in the Jianghuai region. The irrigation water source for 7.2 million acres of farmland and the guarantee of domestic water supply for 14 million people make it a true "lifeline of Jianghuai".

The modernization and renovation project of Pishihang Irrigation District has been included in the National Plan for the Development of Irrigation in Farmland and the Implementation Plan for the "Dual" Construction in the Field of Water Conservancy and Meteorology, and has been selected as a landmark project for the "Dual" construction in the field of water conservancy.

According to the previously disclosed approval information, the project involves Shushan District, Economic Development Zone, High tech Zone, Xinzhan District, Changfeng County, Feidong County, Feixi County, Lujiang County in Hefei City, Jin'an District, Yu'an District, Yeji District, Huoqiu County, Shucheng County, Jinzhai County, Huoshan County in Lu'an City, Shouxian County in Huainan City, and other places.

With the development of the times, the "growing troubles" of old irrigation areas have gradually emerged: the aging and serious leakage of the canal system, the low water resource utilization rate of traditional irrigation methods, and the difficulty of manual scheduling to cope with complex water situation changes. The 19 billion yuan renovation project launched this time will focus on the construction of digital twin irrigation areas, strengthen the anti-seepage and intelligent upgrade of more than 3800 kilometers of main and branch canals, and deploy tens of thousands of intelligent monitoring terminals. In the future, the irrigation area will achieve full process digital management of "water situation monitoring intelligent scheduling precise irrigation", allowing every cubic meter of water to be used on the "cutting edge". It is expected that after the renovation is completed, the irrigation guarantee rate of the irrigation area will be increased to over 85%, and the annual water-saving capacity will exceed 500 million cubic meters.

The integration of water and agriculture paints a new picture of Jianghuai region

In addition to the core goal of ensuring food security, this renovation project also anchors the diverse values of "water conservation, ecology, and efficiency improvement". The project will simultaneously promote water price reform in irrigation areas, establish a water use mechanism of "precise measurement and quantity based charging", and guide farmers to form water-saving awareness; At the same time, relying on the ecological scheduling function of the digital water network, the irrigation area will take into account the ecological flow supply of downstream rivers and improve the regional water ecological environment.

The renovation is not just about repairing and patching up, but about creating a model for modernizing irrigation areas nationwide. The project leader stated that the project will also connect modern agricultural industrial parks and rural tourism demonstration points along the irrigation areas, promoting the integrated development of "water conservancy+agriculture+culture and tourism". At that time, not only will the yield per mu of rice paddies steadily improve, but the ecological corridors and water conservancy scenic areas along the line will also become new scenic spots on the land of Jianghuai, allowing this artificial water vein that has flowed for more than 60 years to not only protect the "rice bag" but also gather the "money bag", truly weaving a new picture of Jianghuai with beautiful water and abundant grain.

When the wave of digitization spreads over the thousands of canals and valleys of the Pishihang Irrigation District, and when the precise opening and closing of intelligent gates echoes the longing of rice fields, this water conservancy monument engraved with the mark of a generation's struggle is embracing the new era with a brand new attitude. In the future, with the implementation of the 19 billion yuan renovation project, the digital water network will become the "smart bloodline" of the Jianghuai granary, injecting a continuous stream of water conservancy energy into rural revitalization while ensuring food security. The transformation of the Pishihang Irrigation Area will also become a vivid example of the modernization of large-scale irrigation areas in the country, demonstrating to the world the infinite possibilities of water management and agricultural development - if the water network is connected, the granary will be solid; If the granary is solid, the world will be safe.Editor/Bian Wenjun