China Accelerates Modern Water Network Construction

China is accelerating construction of its modern water network at an unprecedented pace, with 25 major water conservancy projects launched in the first half of 2026 and investment reaching 515.1 billion yuan (approximately $72 billion), according to the Economic Daily. The initiative, part of a broader national infrastructure strategy, aims to improve water resource management and distribution across the country while addressing flood control, food security, and ecological protection.

A Network Taking Shape

The national water network now covers 80.3% of China’s territory, with 35 of the 40 planned trunk water transmission and drainage channels built or under construction, and 473 of the 588 planned important regulation nodes completed or in progress, Vice Minister of Water Resources Sun Zhiyu told reporters. The network is designed to ensure flood control safety, water supply security, food security, and ecological security across the country.

This year’s project pipeline is particularly notable: the 25 major projects started in the first half of 2026 nearly match the 27 launched during all of 2025. New projects include the Three Gorges Water Transport New Channel, the Taipu River Phase 1, the Fujian Shangbaishi Hydraulic Hub, the Liaoning Liaodong Peninsula Water Resources Allocation project, the Guangdong Leizhou Peninsula Irrigation District, and modernization of the Anhui Pishihang Irrigation District.

“Sufficient project reserves are the foundation for large-scale construction,” said Li Ming, Director of Planning at the Ministry of Water Resources, emphasizing the ministry’s rolling mechanism of implementation, preparation, and strategic planning.

Three Gorges Water Transport New Channel

The flagship project of the current cycle is the Three Gorges Water Transport New Channel, which officially began construction on June 8 in Yichang, Hubei Province. It is the first major national landmark project of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), with a static total investment of approximately 77.2 billion yuan.

The project, the largest comprehensive undertaking on the Yangtze River mainline since the Three Gorges Project itself, will address the chronic bottleneck at the Three Gorges-Gezhouba navigation hub, which has been operating at overcapacity. Upon completion, the Three Gorges Hub will feature a four-lane ship lock system with annual two-way capacity of 336 million tons, while the Gezhouba Hub will achieve a four-lane system with 360 million tons of annual capacity.

According to People’s Daily, the project will enable 10,000-ton vessels to sail directly from Shanghai to Chongqing, potentially saving more than 15.5 billion yuan annually in logistics costs. Zhang Yunchang, First-level Inspector at the Ministry of Water Resources’ Three Gorges Project Management Department, outlined four key benefits of the project in a China Economic Roundtable interview: supporting high-quality development of the Yangtze River’s comprehensive transportation corridor, advancing the Yangtze River Economic Belt strategy, facilitating domestic-international dual circulation, and promoting ecological priority and green development.

“This is the first major national landmark project started during the 15th Five-Year Plan period,” Li Ming said. “Upon completion, it will further expand the comprehensive benefits of the Three Gorges Project and promote the implementation of the Yangtze River Economic Belt development strategy.”

Flood Control: A Growing Priority

Climate change is reshaping China’s flood risk landscape. Extreme rainfall events are becoming more frequent and intense, particularly in northern regions. The 2023 Hai River basin flood—the largest basin-wide extraordinary flood since 1963—underscored the urgent need for enhanced flood control infrastructure in northern China.

In response, six reservoirs have begun construction in the Hai River basin, including the Beijing Zuanziling and Erdaohe reservoirs and four in Hebei Province, adding 467 million cubic meters of flood control storage capacity. Twenty-four main river channel treatment projects are underway, and 25 national flood storage and detention areas are being accelerated, providing 17.5 billion cubic meters of detention capacity upon completion.

Beijing is also planning and constructing five new mountain flood control reservoirs, as reported by China Economic Net. When completed, the capital’s total reservoir capacity will reach 10 billion cubic meters, up from the current 9.3 billion. The new reservoirs—Zuanziling, Erdaohe, Xifengshan, and the Yongding River Guanting Gorge and Juma River Zhangfang flood control projects—will create a protective barrier of reservoir clusters in Beijing’s northern and western mountainous areas.

In the Yellow River basin, the Guxian Water Conservancy Hub is under construction, and the downstream 14th Five-Year Plan flood control project has been fully completed. The Songliao basin is accelerating treatment of 31 main tributaries, 125 medium and small rivers, and 68 mountain torrent channels.

“We will anchor to the 2035 construction goals of the National Water Network Construction Planning Outline,” Sun Zhiyu said, emphasizing the ministry’s commitment to strengthening overall planning and accelerating improvement of the water network’s main channels, branches, and nodes.

Irrigation and Grain Security

Water conservancy is fundamental to China’s food security strategy. The national cultivated land irrigation area reached 1.086 billion mu by the end of 2025, and irrigated farmland produced 88.11% of the national summer grain output in 2026. Total irrigation water supply this year reached 128 billion cubic meters, covering 670 million mu of irrigated area.

In the first half of 2026, three new large irrigation districts began construction—including the Guangdong Leizhou Peninsula and Jiangxi Jinggang projects—along with five large irrigation district modernization projects. The central government allocated 15.8 billion yuan for 13 large irrigation district constructions and modernization of 109 medium and large irrigation districts.

“Able to irrigate in drought, able to drain in flood is the important foundation for water conservancy to ensure stable supply of grain and other important agricultural products,” said Ni Wenjin, Director of Rural Water Resources and Hydropower at the Ministry of Water Resources.

Financing Diversification and the Six Networks Strategy

The water network is part of China’s broader “six networks” infrastructure strategy—encompassing water, power grid, computing power, new communications, urban underground pipelines, and logistics—announced in 2026 with over 7 trillion yuan in planned investment, as Jiemian News reported. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, total water conservancy investment is expected to exceed 7 trillion yuan, averaging over 1.4 trillion yuan annually.

Financing is diversifying beyond central government allocations. In the first half of 2026, 258 billion yuan was raised from local government special bonds, bank loans, and social capital—up 7% year-on-year. Private capital reached 10.84 billion yuan, up 85.8% year-on-year, the highest for the period on record.

The Xinhua News Agency reported that water infrastructure construction absorbed 1.344 million jobs in the first half of 2026, including 1.111 million rural workers, with total wages paid reaching 20.99 billion yuan.

The Yinjiang Buhan Project

The South-to-North Water Diversion follow-up project’s first major undertaking—the Yinjiang Buhan project—is making significant progress. The main tunnel has been excavated over 31 kilometers, and the 8th maintenance and access tunnel (2,959 meters) was completed on June 10, 2026, as reported by Jinan News. The project will divert water from the Three Gorges reservoir to the Han River downstream of Danjiangkou Reservoir, with a total water conveyance route of 194.7 kilometers.

Looking Ahead

As the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan reaches its midpoint, China’s water infrastructure buildout shows no signs of slowing. The Ministry of Water Resources has committed to maintaining annual investment above 1 trillion yuan for the fourth consecutive year, with the full-year 2026 target set accordingly.

At a State Council press conference in January, Vice Minister Chen Min outlined the ministry’s approach: “We will base ourselves on the present, look to the long term, coordinate stock and increment, hard investment and soft construction, accelerate improvement of the national water network system, and strive to maintain a large-scale, high-level momentum in water conservancy infrastructure construction and investment in 2026.”

Looking forward, officials indicate the focus will shift toward building new modern large and medium irrigation districts in suitable areas such as Northeast China, aligned with the new round of 100 billion jin grain production capacity enhancement action. The broader question remains whether this massive infrastructure push—spanning water, power, computing, communications, urban pipelines, and logistics—can deliver the systemic resilience and economic transformation that China’s leadership envisions. With over 7 trillion yuan committed across the six networks during the current Five-Year Plan period, the scale of ambition is clear.