On January 29, it was learnt from the Municipal Water Conservancy Bureau of Huaihua that in the year of 2025, the city's water conservancy system focused on the overall development of the whole city, fully, accurately, and comprehensively implemented the new development concept, and coordinated the systematic management of water security, water resources, water ecology, and water environment, achieving remarkable results in its main responsibilities and core business.
The foundation for development has been continuously strengthened. Huaihua's water conservancy system has taken expanded effective investment in water conservancy as a key starting point, innovated work ideas, and achieved a historical breakthrough in water conservancy investment and construction. To date, the city has secured over 4 billion yuan for water conservancy construction funds, exceeding the provincial target; completed investments exceeding 4.1 billion yuan, achieving a 100% completion rate, ranking among the top in the province; and secured a record high in provincial and national-level water conservancy construction investment plans. All 228 water conservancy projects in the city have commenced construction, and 8 major projects, including the Shanyang Large Reservoir, have passed the review of the Ministry of Water Resources. In particular, the Wushui Large Irrigation Area project adopted the "equity investment + EPCO" model, boldly exploring the "integrated fundraising, investment, construction, and management" reform. After 3 rounds and 22 market tests, and engaging with 25 central and state-owned enterprises, it is expected to leverage social capital of no less than 1 billion yuan, successfully solving the problem of capital raising for major water conservancy projects. Currently, the project has been included in the national list of landmark projects for “two major constructions”, with preliminary work completed 3 months ahead of schedule, preparation for construction underway, and bidding for the main project fully launched. In addition, 8 major projects, including the Shanyang Large Reservoir, have passed the review of the Ministry of Water Resources.
The bottom line of safety has been firmly established. Since the beginning of 2025, the city's water conservancy system has adhered to the principle of putting people and their lives first, focusing on preventing major floods, combating major droughts, responding to major emergencies, and providing disaster relief, achieving a comprehensive victory in flood and drought disaster prevention. The city successfully coped with 11 rounds of heavy rainfall. Especially when the Yuan River experienced a historic flood peak of 9780 cubic meters per second, the Municipal Water Resources Bureau of Huaihua, through scientific and precise scheduling of upstream reservoir clusters, reduced the flood peak water level in low-lying areas of Hongjiang District by 1.5 meters, maximizing the protection of people's lives and property. Flood control responsibilities were fully implemented, with responsible persons assigned to 1288 reservoirs, 39 dikes, and 4824 areas prone to flash floods. Four rounds of risk and hazard inspections were conducted, and 248 hazards were rectified. Throughout the year, 62 flood control orders were issued, emergency responses were activated 67 times, and 63,100 warning messages were sent. The "7531" drought prevention and control mechanism was strictly implemented, and unified water source management was strengthened, ensuring urban and rural water supply and agricultural irrigation needs, resulting in no major disasters during a year of severe drought.
The foundation for green development became even stronger. The city's water resources system resolutely shouldered the political responsibility of "protecting a clean and beautiful river”, promoting the in-depth implementation of the river and lake chief system, and making solid progress in river and lake ecological governance. A 29,300-cubic-meter dredging task was completed in the urban section of the Wushui River. The verification and rectification of 495 suspected problem areas identified by remote sensing and 3028 "follow-up" areas handpicked by the Ministry of Water Resources and the provincial River Chiefs Office were efficiently completed. Regular river and lake "cleaning of four types of pollution" and maintenance were carried to remove over 1840 tons of garbage and floating debris. Boundary demarcation was completed for 638 rivers in mountainous areas outside the water resource survey area, and health assessments were completed for 246 rivers and lakes. The Sandu River National Happy River and Lake Project passed provincial acceptance. 30 square kilometers of soil and water conservation treatment were completed, bringing the city's soil and water conservation rate to 86.65%.
Rural revitalization was strongly supported. The city's water resources system focused on the water resource needs of rural revitalization, striving to address shortcomings, and consolidating and improving rural water infrastructure. Solid progress was made in the special rectification of prominent problems in rural drinking water safety. As of the end of November, 408 problems were identified, 402 were rectified, and all rectification tasks within the deadline were completed. The "county-level unified management" model for rural water supply was vigorously promoted, with policy documents issued in all 10 counties and districts. The coverage rate of tap water in rural areas steadily increased to 93.46%, and the rate of large-scale water supply reached 42.58%. The construction tasks for small-scale agricultural water facilities were fulfilled, with 1,694 ponds dredged, 60 kilometers of obstructed channels cleared, and the irrigated area increased by 23,850 mu. Central government’s investment of 199 million yuan was secured for the reinforcement and upgrading of 102 small reservoirs, and all water-related indicators of provincial key livelihood projects were completed, further highlighting the role of water conservancy in serving agriculture, rural areas, and farmers.
Development momentum continued to strengthen. Reforms in key areas of water conservancy were continuously deepened, and significant breakthroughs were made in investment and financing reforms across the city. The "integrated fundraising, investment, construction, and management" model of the Wushui large-scale irrigation area provided a new paradigm for large-scale project construction in the province. The city fully implemented "machine-managed bidding”, with 13 projects achieving full-process electronic bidding throughout the year. Active exploration of the value realization of water ecological products was carried out, guiding Mayang County to successfully auction the province's first water and soil conservation ecological product, with a transaction amount of 5.062 million yuan; promoting innovative breakthroughs in water area management rights mortgage and water rights pledge financing in Zhijiang and Yuanling counties, accumulating over 1.5 billion yuan in financing, and initially opening up a water conservancy path for transforming "green mountains and lucid waters" into "mountains of gold and silver”. The rigid constraints on water resources were continuously strengthened, and water use supervision and water conservation efforts were continuously enhanced. Standardized management work was completed for 9 large and medium-sized reservoirs, including those in Tongdao Shaikou and Chenxi Luozishan, the large sluice gate in Huitong Suoyitang, and the right bank embankment of Taipingxi in Hecheng District; new progress was made in engineering quality and safety supervision, technological innovation application, and other work, effectively improving industry management efficiency.
Safety levels were improved. The city clarified the safety production responsibilities for 1,786 water conservancy projects, carried out safety production education and training, hazard identification and control, and hidden danger investigation and rectification. "One reservoir, one profile" precise record-keeping and "one reservoir, one plan" time-limited rectification were implemented for 486 reservoirs with safety hazards, and all were successfully closed out. A special campaign was launched across the city to conduct a comprehensive investigation and rectification of safety hazards in the water conservancy industry, as well as a special campaign to address the impact of fish farming on flood control safety in reservoirs. A total of 364 safety hazards and 223 reservoirs affected by fish farming were identified and rectified, with all issues now resolved and closed.
(Translated by Le Guobin)