As the prelude to the construction of 2026 plays across the country, crisscrossing "water veins" are rapidly extending on the land of China. The National Water Network, a strategic infrastructure network related to flood control safety, water supply security, food production capacity, and ecological health, covers 80.3% of the country's land area and has built a solid water security barrier for important economic zones, urban agglomerations, and energy bases. At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, a number of major water conservancy projects are being vigorously promoted from Quanzhou in Fujian to Yichang in Hubei, and then to many places in Guangxi. The total investment of the 27 newly started major projects in 2025 alone reached 203.8 billion yuan, marking a new stage in China's water conservancy infrastructure construction that emphasizes both scale and efficiency.

Continuous release of core performance

The backbone of the national water network is becoming increasingly robust. The Ministry of Water Resources is making every effort to promote the construction of backbone water transmission and drainage channels and important regulation and storage nodes, and to promote the coordinated development of provincial, municipal, and county-level water networks. The engineering network is becoming increasingly dense. The Chongqing Yuxi Water Resources Allocation Project, which will be completed by 2025, has established a new pattern of interconnection and mutual adjustment between the Yangtze River and Jialing River, with an annual water supply of over 1 billion cubic meters, providing strong support for regional economic and social development. The newly started flood control area adjustment project below Fushan on the main stream of the Huai River will be jointly dispatched with the second phase of the Huai River estuary waterway project to systematically alleviate the flood control and waterlogging pressure in the middle reaches of the Huai River. Looking forward to 2026, a number of large-scale irrigation areas, including the follow-up project of the Taihu Lake Lake and Taipu River, the water supply project along the Hubei River Diversion and Han River, and the Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong, will be implemented in advance. The modernization of traditional irrigation areas, such as Dujiangyan Irrigation Project in Sichuan, will also be promoted in an integrated manner, aiming to improve the flood control, water supply, and food security capabilities of the basin region in an all-round way.

Benefit the ecology and people's well-being

The construction benefits of the national water network have surpassed the traditional scope of water conservancy, profoundly benefiting ecological protection and improvement of people's livelihoods. At the macro level, the South to North Water Diversion Project continues to play a strategic role: the East Route Project helps adjust the agricultural structure and develop high-yield grain crops in Xiajin and other areas of Shandong Province; The midline project has bid farewell to the bitter and salty water for over 5 million people in the Heilonggang watershed of Hebei Province. In the field of ecological restoration, the 88 mother river and lake restoration actions launched since 2022 have achieved significant results. Currently, 79 rivers have been fully connected, and the ecological water levels of 9 lakes have been effectively guaranteed. Various regions are actively exploring the "water conservancy+" model, such as the transformation of the Liangma River in Beijing into a waterfront economic belt that integrates culture, commerce, and tourism through systematic governance, vividly demonstrating a new path of supporting high-quality economic and social development with high-quality water ecological environment. Keywords: Water conservancy engineering news, water conservancy news and information

Diversified guarantee construction funds

In the face of large-scale and high standard construction tasks, sustainable funding support is crucial. The Ministry of Water Resources insists on the dual efforts of the government and the market, deepening investment and financing reforms, and actively expanding financing channels. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, China completed a total investment of 5.68 trillion yuan in water conservancy construction, of which local government special bonds, bank loans, and social capital accounted for 36.1%, and a diversified investment pattern has been formed. Currently, the modern water network planning in Henan, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Guangdong and other places is accelerating its implementation. The executive meeting of the State Council explicitly regards the construction of the national water network as an important carrier for expanding domestic demand, and requires innovative mechanisms to guide the participation of various forces such as central and state-owned enterprises and attract private capital. This series of measures not only provides financial support for the smooth implementation of the project, but also plays a macroeconomic role in expanding domestic demand and stabilizing growth through investment in major projects, laying a solid foundation for the country's long-term water security and high-quality development. (This article is from the official website of Jian Dao www.seetao.com. Reproduction without permission is prohibited, otherwise it will be prosecuted. Please indicate Jian Dao website+original link when reprinting.) Jian Dao website water conservancy column editor/Gao Xue