China to foster new quality productive forces in water conservancy sector

BEIJING -- China will foster new quality productive forces nationwide in its water conservancy sector, with a focus on scaling up application of cutting-edge technologies and equipment to raise the operational and management standards of reservoirs, the Ministry of Water Resources announced on Thursday.

Zhang Wenjie, an official with the ministry, noted that the country will build an all-weather intelligent monitoring system covering sky, space, land, water and engineering domains. It will also leverage a suite of technologies including satellite remote sensing, ground-penetrating radar, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned ships and underwater robots to enhance hidden danger detection capabilities and advance intelligent patrol operations.

Zhang cited a successful case of new technology application in water conservancy last year. During the 2025 autumn flood season on the Hanjiang River, the real-time engineering safety status of the Danjiangkou Reservoir, located in Central China's Hubei province, was monitored amid high water levels via the Global Navigation Satellite System and surveying robots. This technological support enabled precise and science-based operation and regulation of the reservoir.

The ministry is stepping up efforts to advance the development of safe, ecological and smart dams, according to Wang Bao'en, deputy head of the ministry. It will intensify R&D and deployment of new technologies and equipment, and select a batch of representative dams with sound foundational conditions, to launch pilot projects in the sector and strive to elevate the level of modern management of reservoirs to a higher standard, Wang added.