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III. Main Achievements in Water Sector

Embankments and water gates.277,500 km river embankments had been constructed, which can protect 540 million people and 44 million ha farmlands. In total, 98,000 km of embankments is up to the standard, among which 23,200 km met the standard of grade-I and grade-II. 39,839 water gates of all kinds had been constructed all over the country, among which 405 were large water gates.

Reservoirs and complex.85,108 reservoirs of all kinds had been constructed all over country, with a total storage capacity of 562.4 billion m3, among which 470 were large reservoirs, with a total capacity of 419.7 billion m3. 387 large reservoirs are managed by the department of water administration,and 83 are managed by power sector or others.

Irrigation.The effective irrigated area reached to 56.562 million ha, accounting for 43.5% of the farmlands in China. Irrigation districts over 10,000 mu were 5,860, with an effective irrigation area of 26.419 million ha; large irrigation districts over 300,000 mu were 287, with an effective irrigation area of 14.310 million ha. Water-saving irrigated area reached to 21.338 million ha or 34.5% of the total irrigated area. In all water-saving irrigated area, 9.133 million ha was equipped with lined canals, 4.992 million ha with low-pressure pipes, 3.368 million ha with sprinkler or drip or micro irrigation, 3.845 million ha with on-farm water-saving irrigation, rain-collection irrigation or other water-saving irrigation facilities. The coefficient of effective utilization of irrigated water reached to 0.45.

Tube wells and pumping stations.In 2005, there are 4.786 million tube wells all over country, among which 428,200 were installed electricity-lifting equipment and well-operated, with an installed capacity of 38.871 GW. By the end of 2005, the fixed electro-mechanical pumping stations reached to 490,000, with an installed capacity of 22.176 GW. Except those fixed pumping stations, the installed capacity of movable equipment of irrigation and drainage reached to 21.423 GW.

Rural hydropower and electrification.By the end of 2005, the total installed capacity of hydropower reached to 48.41 GW, accounting for 41.5% of the total, in which the installed capacity of rural hydropower plants was 43.09 GW. The annual generation of hydropower was 151.3 billion kWh, accounting for 38.3% of the total. The number of rural hydropower electrification counties reached to 410.

Soil and water conservation projects.By the end of 2005, the improved eroded area amounted to 947,000 km2 in China, in which small watershed covered 371,000 km2. Ecological restoration areas covered 600,000 km2. By the end of 2005, more than 1,300 water and soil conservation projects had been constructed, with 28,000 silt-retention dams constructed on the Loess Plateau. A monitoring network for water and conservation supervision that covers the whole country was initially completed. The Supervision and Monitoring Center of Water and Soil Conservation was established in the Ministry of Water Resources. Supervision and monitoring stations in 7 key river basins, 29 provincial supervision central stations, and 151 supervision substations were established.

Hydrology and informationization.At the end of 2005, 3,191 hydrologic stations, 1,160 gauging stations, 14,373 precipitation stations, 4,557 water quality stations, 12,313 groundwater monitoring stations, 349 evaporation stations and 69 experimental stations were set up. There were 7,815 telegram reporting stations and 1,041 hydrologic forecast stations in the whole country. A water quality monitoring network that covers the whole country had been basically completed, with 251 water environment monitoring centers, and 3,240 water quality monitoring stations.