Winter is the golden period for rushing repairs on water conservancy. All localities are accelerating the pace of water conservancy project repair and construction to safeguard food production and flood discharge safety.

Data released by the Ministry of Water Resources shows that since last November, 8 major water conservancy projects have started construction nationwide, and major water conservancy projects under construction are being pushed forward intensively. The Yangtze-to-Han River Water Diversion Project is a major project launched as part of the follow-up works of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, and has now entered the full-scale construction stage. At the construction site in Shiyan, Hubei, the reporter saw workers carrying out construction of the upper structure of the Anle River Bridge.

Wang Wei, Director of the Comprehensive Division of the Construction Management Department III of the Yangtze-to-Han River Water Diversion Project: In 2024, the plan is to complete 2,400 meters of main tunnel excavation at the outlet section of the main water conveyance trunk line, and 4,939 meters of construction adit excavation is planned.

At present, various water conservancy projects for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction in the Haihe River Basin are being accelerated. At the construction site of the second phase of the Yongding River Comprehensive Regulation Project—the Shuihui repair project in the Gu'an section of Hebei—workers are carrying out lead wire gabion protection construction on the floodplain to enhance flood discharge capacity. Currently, of the 307 water-damage repair projects across Hebei Province, 278 have been completed and 29 are under construction.

Large and medium-sized irrigation districts are important water conservancy facilities for safeguarding national food security. The 17 newly built large irrigation districts and the 581 large and medium-sized irrigation districts undergoing continued supporting facilities and modernization renovation, which started last year, are currently being accelerated. In Ningdu, Jiangxi, the first-phase construction of the Meijiang Irrigation District, with a total investment of 4.229 billion yuan, has entered a critical stage, with 55 work faces along the project under simultaneous construction. At the construction site of the Xiefang Tunnel and its surrounding canal projects, workers are dividing labor and cooperating to carry out tunnel excavation, canal grouting, pipeline installation and other operations.

Zeng Fuyou, Commander-in-Chief of the Meijiang Irrigation District Construction Command in Ningdu County, Jiangxi Province: At present, three water conveyance tunnels have been fully connected, and the Huaxie Aqueduct, the largest controlling project of the main canal, has been completed three months ahead of schedule, with 39% of the total investment completed.

This year, China will start construction of large irrigation districts including Xiajiang in Jiangxi, Meishan in Hunan, Lujiangba in Yunnan, and Qianping in Henan. More than 1,000 large and medium-sized irrigation districts will be renovated and upgraded to continuously improve the irrigation and drainage engineering system.