【Celebrating the Centenary Of the Communist Party of China, The Ninth Special Article in a Series】The Source of Life Composes a Splendid Poem of "The Rule of China"

Standardized water supply in rural water supply - Yinzu Water Plant in Daye City, Hubei Province (Courtesy of Yinzu Water Plant)

　　□ reporter Li Shunqing

　　The long canal leads to the north and south, and there are thousands of happy homes.

　　On December 12, 2014, the south-to-north water diversion project, known as the "Heavenly River on Earth", was fully opened to water, and the clear and sweet water of the Han River flowed north from the Danjiangkou Reservoir and flowed into thousands of households in Beijing. In the past seven years, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project has not only enabled hundreds of millions of people in seven provinces and cities along the route to drink sweet "South Water", but also greatly improved the water shortage situation and river and lake ecology in North China. On June 7, 2021, the ecological water replenishment of the Hutuo River and the Daqing River was officially launched, and the South-to-North Water Diversion Project helped the ecological recovery of the Baiyangdian Wetland in Xiong'an New Area.

　　China's water resources allocation is building a magnificent pattern of "four horizontal and three vertical, north-south allocation, and east-west mutual benefit", and the south-to-north water diversion project has become a model for optimizing the allocation of water resources, ensuring drinking water safety, reviving the ecology of rivers and lakes, and supporting high-quality economic and social development.

　　Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has drawn up water control work from the strategic overall situation of long-term peace and stability of the country and the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly put forward the idea of "giving priority to water conservation, spatial balance, systematic governance, and two-handed force", which pointed out the direction for improving the ability to optimize the allocation of water resources and improving the level of intensive conservation and safe utilization of water resources.

　　From the construction of water conservancy and the improvement of the level of water development and utilization during the Yan'an period to the response to the tightening of resources and environment and the solution of many water problems after the reform and opening up, our party attaches great importance to the management of water resources and regards water resources management as an important part of sustainable economic and social development

　　The century-old history of the Communist Party of China is also a history of harnessing water in the mighty mountains and rivers. During the Yan'an period, from 1939 onwards, the government of the Border Region actively built water conservancy, expanded the area of water irrigation land, and improved grain production capacity. According to the natural conditions, technical level and requirements of the masses in the border areas, the construction of water conservancy in the border areas is mainly to build two types of small-scale private water conservancy projects, namely, water diversion irrigation and soil and water conservation. With the development of water conservancy construction, the water land in the border area has increased year by year, and in 1940, the dryland was changed to 23,558 mu of water land, and in 1944, the water land area reached 41,109 mu. Water conservancy work has become the most important component of the "large-scale production movement", which has provided an important basic guarantee for promoting agricultural production, improving the livelihood of the military and the people, supporting the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and saving the country, and even the victory of the Chinese revolution.

　　In the early days of the founding of New China, the water conservancy infrastructure was weak, the degree of development and utilization of water resources was low, and the total national water supply was only 103.1 billion cubic meters. After the founding of New China, large-scale water resources development and utilization were implemented, nearly 100,000 reservoirs were built, with a total reservoir capacity of 903.5 billion cubic meters, an irrigation area of more than 1.02 billion mu of arable land, and a total water supply increased to 602.12 billion cubic meters in 2019. With 6% of the world's water resources, China supports nearly 20% of the world's population and 16% of the total economy.

　　Before the reform and opening up, the demand for water in the economy and society was relatively limited, and the water was basically "sufficient", and it was very common to think that water resources were "inexhaustible" and to drink "big pot water". After the reform and opening up in 1978, with the sustained and rapid development of the economy and society and the growth of the population, the problems of water shortage and water pollution in the development came one after another and intensified. In 1988, the Water Law of the People's Republic of China was promulgated and implemented, establishing the basic system of water resources management such as water withdrawal permit management. As a basic natural resource, a strategic economic resource and an ecological and environmental control factor, water resources have been mentioned for the first time at the height of national management. In 1993, the "Implementation Measures for the Water Extraction Permit System" was issued, and most provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) in the country have successively formulated local water resource fee collection management measures, implemented water withdrawal permits and water resources paid use system, and bid farewell to the era of "free water" for free use. The increasing tightening of resources and environment has also brought water resource management to the forefront.

　　In 2016, Jean-François Donsère, Secretary General of the Permanent Technical Secretariat of the International Network of River Basin Organizations and a French water management expert, received the Chinese Government Friendship Award. Downzel witnessed China's water resources governance process since the beginning of this century: "I see the determination and remarkable results of the Chinese government and people to strengthen the restoration and protection of the ecological environment. China not only regards water resources governance as a priority for sustainable development, but also contributes wisdom and strength to the harmonious coexistence between man and nature. ”

　　In recent years, Downzel has visited China once or twice a year almost every year, and every year he will feel differently. "Over the years, the Chinese government has increased its investment in funds, technology and manpower, and has made great efforts and achieved remarkable results in the restoration and treatment of river waters, the protection of water sources, or the treatment of urban water bodies and the publicity of water conservation." It not only effectively prevents water pollution and improves the efficiency of water environment management, but also provides people with a safer water environment. "China is a large country with a population of 1.4 billion, and its significance of attaching so much importance to water resources governance and protection is worldwide." I believe that as relevant policies are implemented on a broader scale, China will become a more important participant and leader in the field of global water governance. ”

　　In the new period of socialist modernization, our party attaches great importance to the development, utilization and protection of water resources, establishes the conservation of resources and the protection of the environment as the basic national policy, establishes sustainable development as a national strategy, and effectively supports the sustainable development of economy and society with the sustainable use of water resources

　　Harmonious human-water relations are the basic guarantee for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. China's water resources are in short supply, and the per capita water resources account for only 28% of the world average. Based on its own resource endowments and entering a new period of socialist modernization, our party attaches great importance to the development, utilization and protection of water resources, establishes the conservation of resources and the protection of the environment as the basic national policy, and establishes sustainable development as the national strategy.

　　In view of the uneven distribution of water resources in time and space, such as the lack of water resources in the south and the north, and the large changes in abundance and drought, at the national and regional levels, a large number of water resources allocation projects have been built successively, such as the first phase of the east-central line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the Three Gorges Project, the Yellow River Xiaolangdi Water Conservancy Hub, and the Introduction of Luan into Tianjin. Water source conditions such as energy and chemical bases effectively ensure the safety of water supply.

　　In view of the shortage of water resources and the extensive use of water, we adhere to the principle of giving priority to water conservation and regard water conservation as a fundamental measure to solve the problem of water shortage in China. Increase the intensity of agricultural water conservation, implement the continuous construction of large and medium-sized irrigation areas to support water-saving transformation, promote water-saving and grain-saving in the northeast, water-saving efficiency in the northwest, water-saving and pressure mining in North China, and water-saving and emission-saving in the south, with a water-saving irrigation area of 556 million mu in 2019, of which 340 million mu are high-efficiency water-saving irrigation areas. In terms of industrial water conservation, strictly control high water consumption and high pollution projects, accelerate the transformation of industrial water-saving technology, promote water-saving technologies, processes and equipment, and improve the reuse rate of water. In terms of domestic water, vigorously promote water-saving appliances, increase the development and utilization of unconventional water such as reclaimed water, and the national unconventional water utilization has reached 8.64 billion cubic meters.

　　Strengthen the protection of water resources in view of the problems of water ecology and water environment such as groundwater over-exploitation, river flow interruption, lake shrinkage, and water pollution that have occurred in the course of development. The 21 provinces and autonomous regions with the problem of groundwater over-exploitation have implemented measures to ban and limit mining. Implement the comprehensive treatment of groundwater over-exploitation in North China, adopt the "one reduction, one increase" treatment measures, and reduce the groundwater extraction volume in the urban areas of 6 provinces and cities in the south-to-north water diversion area by about 2.356 billion cubic meters; implement ecological water replenishment of rivers and lakes in key sections such as the Tuotuo River in Hebei Province, gradually restore the ecological functions of the river, and effectively replenish the groundwater along the route. Implement the ecological restoration of the Yellow River, Tarim River, Heihe River and Shiyang River, adopt ecological governance measures such as water conservation and demand control, unified dispatch, etc., to achieve continuous flow of the main stream of the Yellow River for 22 consecutive years, the lower reaches of the Heihe River east juyanhai have not dried up for 17 consecutive years, the Tarim River Basin has regained vitality, and the ecological deterioration of the Shiyang River Basin has been effectively curbed. Implement ecological water replenishment such as Baiyangdian, Hengshui Lake, Yongding River, Zhalong Wetland, and Xianghai Wetland, and significantly improve the ecological environment. The implementation of the dispatch of the amount of water diverted to the river has improved the water environment of Taihu Lake and the river network. Implement the dispatch of fresh water replenishment in the Pearl River, and make every effort to ensure the safety of water supply in Macao, Zhuhai and the Pearl River Delta. A water function zoning system has been established to promote the prevention and control of water pollution, strengthen the protection of drinking water sources, and increase the water quality compliance rate of water function areas nationwide from 63.5% in 2012 to 86.9% in 2019. Compared with 2012, the proportion of class I.-III water river lengths in the country increased by 14.6 percentage points in 2018, and the proportion of inferior class V. water river lengths decreased by 10.2 percentage points.

　　Comprehensively implement the strictest water resources management system, strengthen demand management and total water consumption control, determine and measure water, and establish a three-red line control index system for the whole country and the three administrative districts of provinces, cities and counties. The total amount of water used in the country has experienced a trend of first rapid rise, and then slowly rising and stabilizing, and has been controlled within 610 billion cubic meters since 2016, providing water security for high-quality economic and social development. To promote the allocation of water in inter-provincial river basins, the state has successively approved 58 water allocation plans for inter-provincial river basins such as the Yellow River, the main stream of the HuaiHe River, Taihu Lake, and the main stream of the Songhua River, and formulated the water allocation quota of relevant river basins and regions, as well as the control indicators for the discharge of water from provincial boundary sections and important control sections, and controlled the intensity of river and lake development. Strict water resources demonstration and water withdrawal permit management, the Yellow River Basin water resources overloaded 13 prefecture-level cities, 62 county-level cities suspended new water withdrawal permit policies. Organize and carry out special rectification actions for national water intake management, concentrate on rectifying illegal water withdrawal behavior, cumulatively verify more than 5.6 million water intakes, basically find out the current situation of water intakes nationwide, and promote rectification and reform of problems existing in water intake. Strengthen water resources monitoring, and achieve online monitoring of 10,298 groundwater sites and 19,000 water users. Evaluate the implementation of the strictest water resources management system by local people's governments, and incorporate the assessment results into the comprehensive evaluation system of major local leading cadres.

　　Adhere to the system concept, under the premise of comprehensively strengthening water conservation and strengthening the rigid constraints on water resources, comprehensively strengthen demand and supply management, and provide a solid water resources security guarantee for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and sustainable development

　　Water is the foundation of survival and the source of civilization. Water resources are related to people's life safety, food security, economic security, social security, ecological security and national security. On March 14, 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech on ensuring national water security, pointing out that it is necessary to strengthen demand management, take water resources, water ecology, and water environment carrying capacity as rigid constraints, and implement them in all aspects of reform, development and stability. The Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-term Goals for the Year 2035, which was studied and formulated by the Fifth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, clearly put forward the establishment of a rigid constraint system on water resources.

　　These important expositions are of great guiding significance for water resources management. The carrying capacity of water resources is limited, which determines that the "needs" such as development mode and development scale must be controlled within the scope of water resources carrying capacity, and cannot break through the rigid constraints of water resources, otherwise it will inevitably lead to a shortage of water resources and excessive development, which will not be able to achieve sustainable use of water resources, nor can it support economic and social development, and will also lead to a series of ecological and environmental problems. Therefore, it is necessary to implement the rigid constraints on water resources to the letter, so that water can be used to determine demand and measure water.

　　During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the Ministry of Water Resources focused on accelerating the establishment of a rigid constraint index system for water resources, defining reasonable water demand, restricting unreasonable water demand through strict supervision, implementing "water demand", and strengthening rigid constraints on water resources. The results of the assessment of the implementation of the most stringent water resources management system in 2019 show that the total water consumption of 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) in 2018 and 2019 was 601.55 billion cubic meters and 602.12 billion cubic meters, respectively, the water consumption of the national GDP of 10,000 yuan decreased by 19.2% and 23.8% compared with 2015 (calculated at comparable prices), and the water consumption of the industrial added value of 10,000 yuan decreased by 20.6% and 27.5% respectively compared with 2015 (calculated at comparable prices). The irrigation water utilization coefficients of farmland were 0.554 and 0.559, respectively, and the water quality compliance rates of important rivers and lakes water functional areas were 83.1% and 86.9%, respectively. All provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) have fully implemented the central decision-making and deployment and the strictest water resources management system, further promoted the priority of water conservation, strengthened the supervision of water resources, continuously strengthened the protection of water resources, further deepened the system of river chiefs and lake chiefs, and significantly improved the level of rural drinking water safety and security, and made positive progress.

　　With the "great power of the country", fully implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech and important instructions on water control work, coordinate development and security, and comprehensively improve the national water security guarantee capacity, we need to adhere to the priority policy of water conservation, deeply implement the national water-saving action; establish a rigid constraint index system for water resources, strictly control the upper limit of water resources development and utilization, adhere to the determination of cities with water, the land with water, the people with water, and the production with water, and implement the strictest water resources management system, forcing the scale of development, the structure of development, and the optimization of the layout of development Promote economic and social development to adapt to the carrying capacity of water resources; implement major projects of the national water network, based on the overall allocation of water resources and the spatial allocation of water resources, follow the principle of demonstration of major water conservancy projects that are really needed, ecologically safe and sustainable, build a national water network with "complete system, safe and reliable, intensive and efficient, green and intelligent, smooth circulation, and orderly regulation", comprehensively enhance the overall allocation capacity of water resources, water supply guarantee and strategic reserve capacity in China, and restore the ecological environment of rivers and lakes. With the improvement of the quality and stability of the water ecosystem as the core, adhere to the governance of the grass and sand system of Shanshui Lintian Lake, strengthen the ecological protection and governance of rivers and lakes, accelerate the comprehensive treatment of groundwater over-exploitation, scientifically promote the comprehensive treatment of soil erosion, maintain the healthy life of rivers and lakes, realize the sustainable utilization of river and lake functions, and realize the harmonious coexistence of man and water; promote the construction of smart water conservancy, with digitalization, networking and intelligence as the main line, accelerate the construction of a smart water conservancy system with the functions of forecasting, early warning, rehearsal and pre-plan; establish and improve the water-saving system policy, and adhere to the principle of measuring water 3. Focus on water conservation, establish and improve the initial water rights allocation and trading system, the rigid constraint system of water resources, and the water-saving system of the whole society, establish and improve the water-saving system policy of water allocation, supervision and assessment, and comprehensively improve the level of intensive conservation and safe utilization of water resources.

　　The Chinese civilization of "the unity of heaven and man" has lasted for more than 5,000 years, and the strings and songs have not stopped, and they have lasted for a long time. The harmonious coexistence of man and water is the concrete embodiment of this idea. Looking back, the history of our party's century-old struggle is the history of seeking happiness for the people. The fundamental purpose of optimizing the management of China's water resources, eliminating the "danger of rivers and rivers and the danger of water sources", and building an ecological civilization is precisely to continuously meet the people's growing needs for a better life and a beautiful ecological environment, and for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and sustainable development.

　　The intensive conservation and safe utilization of water resources reflects the original mission of the communists and composes a splendid poem of "the rule of China". The people's yearning for a better life will certainly become a reality in the unremitting struggle of the communists and will be immortalized in the journey of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

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