As one of the super large irrigation districts in China, Hetao Irrigation District is located in Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. With a total area of 1.19 million hectares, it is 250 km long from east to west and 50 km wide from north to south. On September 4th, 2019, the District was inscribed into the World Irrigation Project Heritage List.

Its history can be traced back to the Qin and Han dynasties (B.C.221-A.D.220). After 1949, the District has experienced four phases of large-scale constructions, including water diversion projects, drainage projects, auxiliary projects funded by World Bank and water-saving renovations. From 1949 to 1960s, Sanshenggong Hydraulic Complex was built up and the main water canal was excavated, ending the history of no dams and multiple water diversion outlets. From the 1960s and 1980s, the main drainage ditch was dredged, Honggebu Pumping Station was constructed and various levels of drainage channels were excavated. From the 1980s to 1990s, the expansion of the main drainage ditch, the improvement of the main canal and the construction of auxiliary projects were all completed. Since 1998, a large number of water-saving renovations has been carried out. After half a century of construction, it has achieved three major historical leaps, namely from water diversion without dams to water diversion with dams, from irrigation without drainage to irrigation combined with drainage, and from extensive irrigation to water-saving irrigation. Currently, it boasts of a complete seven-level irrigation and drainage system.

For thousands of years, the engineering and management systems of Hetao Irrigation District have evolved and developed with the changes in natural environment and socio-economic development. In addition, the planning and design of its engineering system with reasonable development intensity and consideration of ecological environment impact have enabled the District to develop in a sustainable manner. Thus, it becomes a typical model of the sustainable irrigation.

Source: INTCE