Reservoirs win praise, but climate change poses threat

Thanks to consistent efforts to improve reservoir safety management, China has unprecedentedly experienced no dam collapses for three straight years, despite increasingly severe flood control challenges due to climate change, said Wang Baoen, vice-minister of water resources.

In a news conference on Tuesday, Wang stressed reservoirs as key infrastructure of significant importance.

"Reservoirs are essential infrastructure with multiple functions, including flood control, water supply, power generation, and ecological conservation," he said. "They play an irreplaceable role in safeguarding the lives and property of the people, promoting socioeconomic development, and maintaining overall social stability."

The ministry, however, is confronted with a grim situation in the management of the infrastructure, he stressed.

"Amid global climate change, the country has experienced an increasing frequency of extreme rainfall and flood disasters that break historical records," he said.

This has created a dire and complex challenge for risk prevention and safety management, underscoring the critical need for unwavering vigilance in reservoir safety, he emphasized.

The vice-minister highlighted a series of measures the ministry has rolled out to cope with the situation.

The ministry has made reinforcing safety accountability in reservoir management a top priority, with particular emphasis on small reservoirs that usually have no dedicated management bodies, he noted.

Before each flood season, the ministry will make sure that there will be administrative, technical, and inspection personnel for those small reservoirs. Moreover, it will guide local authorities to arrange emergency response teams and prepare relief supplies in advance for all reservoirs.

He emphasized that the ministry is paying particularly more attention to dilapidated reservoirs, stating that reinforcement and remediation measures will be implemented immediately upon the detection of any damages to promptly eliminate safety hazards.

The ministry has also intensified efforts to enhance safety monitoring capabilities in small reservoirs, he said. Since 2021, it has been working to install precipitation and flood monitoring facilities in all reservoirs and to equip dams with safety monitoring equipment where conditions permit.