What are the shortcomings exposed by the Haihe River's "23.7" catastrophic flood? How to improve? Ministry of Water Resources responds to construction | River Basin | Haihe River
Affected by the northward movement of Typhoon Dussuri and cold air, heavy rainfall occurred throughout the entire Haihe River basin from July 28th to August 1st. Affected by heavy rainfall, 22 rivers in the Haihe River Basin experienced floods exceeding the warning level, 8 rivers experienced the largest floods since measured data, Daqing River and Yongding River experienced catastrophic floods, Ziya River experienced catastrophic floods, and Haihe River Basin experienced catastrophic floods, making it the largest flood since 1963.
What are the shortcomings and weaknesses exposed by the severe flood disasters in some areas of the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region caused by the Haihe River Basin flood?
On August 21st, the Ministry of Water Resources held a press conference on the prevention of the "23.7" catastrophic flood in the Haihe River Basin. Zhang Xiangwei, Director of the Planning and Planning Department of the Ministry of Water Resources, answered the questions raised by the reporter Pengpai News. He stated that the flood control engineering system in the Haihe River Basin, mainly composed of reservoirs, rivers, embankments, and flood storage and detention areas, played an important role in preventing the "23.7" catastrophic flood in the Haihe River Basin, but also exposed some weak links.
One reason is that the "three lines of defense" for monitoring and forecasting rainfall and water conditions, composed of meteorological satellites, rain radars, rainfall stations, and hydrological stations, are weak, and some rivers find it difficult to accurately predict flood situations in a timely manner. Secondly, some flood control reservoirs in the upstream of rivers have not yet been built, and the flood retention capacity is insufficient, causing mountainous floods to directly enter the plains. The third issue is land subsidence in the watershed. Some river channels have been experiencing severe flooding and siltation for many years, and some river channels and embankments have not met the standards for construction. The flood discharge capacity does not meet the planning requirements. Fourthly, the construction of flood storage and detention areas lags behind, and the facilities for entering and exiting floods are incomplete, which affects the effective diversion and storage of floods. The fifth is that the digital twin watershed is in its early stages, and the modern information technology support for water engineering joint scheduling is insufficient. The flood forecasting, warning, rehearsal, and contingency planning capabilities are insufficient, which affects the precise scheduling of floods.
What are the next steps to improve the flood disaster prevention capabilities of the Haihe River Basin?
Zhang Xiangwei stated that the Ministry of Water Resources will work with relevant departments and localities to further strengthen the governance of the Haihe River Basin system, accelerate the improvement of the basin's flood control engineering system, and comprehensively enhance the basin's flood control and disaster reduction capabilities. One is to accelerate the repair of water damage projects. Comprehensively investigate the damage caused by the flood to the engineering, and immediately carry out the restoration work of the water damaged engineering after the flood. Before the flood next year, the water conservancy facilities will be basically repaired.
The second is to improve the ability to accumulate. Accelerate the safe construction of flood control reservoirs and flood storage and detention areas, and enhance flood regulation and storage capacity.
The third is to improve the ability to vent. Strengthen the management of backbone waterways, dredge waterways, and ensure smooth flood discharge. Implement the three-year action plan for the construction of important embankments in the backbone of the Haihe River to meet standards. Accelerate the governance of small and medium-sized rivers and flash floods.
The fourth is to promote urban flood control construction. Integrating urban flood control into the watershed flood control system, following the concept of "rejecting, bypassing, and discharging", accelerating the construction of key regional flood control engineering systems, enhancing urban flood control and drainage capabilities, and ensuring urban flood control safety.
The fifth is to promote the construction of digital twin watersheds. Accelerate the construction of the "three lines of defense" for rainfall monitoring and forecasting, promote the construction of digital twin watersheds and the "four preparations" for flood control, and provide support for flood control scheduling decision-making and management.
Six is to improve the system, mechanism, and rule of law. Strengthen the management of flood storage and detention areas and spatial control of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, strengthen water administrative law enforcement, strictly crack down on behaviors such as occupying shoreline storage capacity and obstructing river flood discharge, ensure smooth flood control and drainage channels, and ensure flood safety.
