In 2024, the high-quality development of rural water conservancy and hydropower achieved remarkable outcomes in China, with a rural tap water penetration rate of 94%, and 65% of rural population served by scaled water supply projects. The national plan for the development of farmland irrigation was unveiled, the five institutional systems for agricultural water conservation and efficiency improvement were established, and the modernization and upgrading of irrigation districts were promoted, thus providing strong support for grain harvest.

Endeavors were also made to accelerate the green development of small hydropower. After the completion of the clean-up and rectification of small hydropower stations in the Yellow River Basin, ecological flows were ensured for more than 41,000 small hydropower stations across the country and a total length of about 100,000 km of river sections with reduced or dried-up water flow was restored. With more than 300 centralized monitoring and control centers built, over 4,000 hydropower stations were then incorporated into the centralized control and intelligent transformation.

In 2025, Ministry of Water Resources will step up the standardization construction of rural water supply, speed up the upgrading of irrigation and drainage project systems and the construction of digital-twin irrigation districts, gear up the management and service guarantee capabilities of irrigation districts in an all-round manner, and continuously push forward the green transformation and modernization of small hydropower in China.

Source: INTCE