4 Strive for a Good Start for the Reform and Development of Water Conservancy in the 13^th Five-year Plan Period in 2016

The year 2016 marks the start of the decisive stage of building a moderately prosperous society in a comprehensive way.Centered on comprehensively deepening reform,we will accelerate the institutional innovation of water conservancy,employ reform measures to drive all aspects of water conservancy and enhance its endogenous power of development.

First,strengthen flood control,drought relief and the fight against typhoons.We will fully implement the chief administrative officer responsibility system and other responsibility systems in flood control and drought relief,promptly restore damaged water conservancy facilities in flooded areas and improve the flood control and drought relief supervision systems.We will strive to ensure the safety of levees and hydropower stations and other projects currently under construction during flood seasons and prevent flood,mud flows and typhoon disasters,as well as carry out flood control and drainage in urban areas and reduce the menace of ice jam in the rivers in northern China.We will accelerate the implementation of the National Drought Relief Planning and Implementation Program (2014-2016) and improve the water use management and emergency dispatch for drought relief.

Second,accelerate the construction of major projects for water conservation and supply.We will speed up projects under construction,like the project diverting water from the Hanjiang River to the Weihe River,make elaborate preparations for 20 major projects including the project diverting water from the Yangtze River to the Huaihe River,and accelerate the preliminary work of other 60 projects including the Guxian water conservancy project in the Yellow River.We will continue to build medium-sized reservoirs in the southwestern region where infrastructure is lacking for water shortage management and to boost the building of important flood-detention areas.We will strengthen poverty alleviation through water conservancy,connect the stony desertification areas in Yunnan Province,Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guizhou Province and carry out targeted poverty alleviation and assistance including pilot projects in Guizhou Province.

Third,overcome the weak links in rural water conservancy infrastructure.We will launch a project to improve the safety of rural drinking water,accelerate the construction and building of supporting facilities for key irrigation and drainage projects,and set in motion the modernization and upgrading of irrigation districts and the reconstruction of medium-sized irrigation and drainage pumping stations.We will accelerate the scaling up of regional efficient water saving,build metering and supporting facilities for agricultural water use and add over 20 million mu (1.33 million hm²) of farmland under highly efficient irrigation.We will explore innovative organization approaches and mobile farmers and farming business entities to carry out the construction of farmland irrigation and drainage works.

Fourth,further implement the most stringent water resources management system.We will complete the task of water distribution for 53 rivers which flow across provincial boundaries.We will actively carry out the assessment of the carrying capacity of water resources and monitoring and early warning capacity,push for the establishment of a water resources monitoring system and strengthen rural water consumption metering and statistics.We will speed up the planning of building a water-saving society in the 13^th Five-year Plan period,launch the program of water use efficiency leaders in water products and industries as well as irrigation districts,and fully implement the water efficiency labeling system.We will strive to soundly organize the First Phase of Eastern Route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project and the water resources dispatching for the Yellow River and the Heihe River.

Fifth,actively promote protection and restoration of water eco-system and improve the graded and classified administration of water functional areas.We will step up the building of the national groundwater monitoring system and the pilot program for comprehensive control of excessive extraction of groundwater.We will summarize the experience of the pilot programs of urban water ecological progress and sponge cities,and accelerate water and soil conservation projects as well as water ecological restoration in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.We will push for the capacity expansion and efficiency improvement of rural hydropower stations and complete the building of 1,000 pilot standard hydropower stations in rural areas.We will complete the continued construction of"small hydropower replacing firewood for fuel"projects to enable over 3 million farmers to have access to domestic fuel.

Sixth,deepen reform in water conservancy in a comprehensive way.We will promote the successful experience of Yunnan Province and improve the water pricing mechanism for agriculture.We will continue to carry out reform of the property rights system of 100 irrigation facilities and innovate the management and maintenance system of farmland water conservancy facilities.We will deepen structural reform in water conservancy investment and the financing system,make full use of bridge loans,special funds,Pledged Supplementary Lending (PSL),financing guarantees and other supportive policies,and seek interest rate subsidy from the Central Government and local governments.We will accelerate the institutional improvement in the control of water use and transfer of water use rights,and phase in the verification and registration of water use rights.We will intensify assessment and supervision of key water sector reform tasks.

Seventh,strengthen the management and maintenance of water conservancy projects construction.We will unify the standards for construction and explore effective approaches for grading responsibility and management.We will cover the full expenses in project maintenance and offer subsidies for the operation and maintenance of irrigation and drainage projects.We will improve the information management system of farmland irrigation projects.We will establish grassroots water service stations at the township or basin level,take advantage of rural water users associations and build professional teams for flood control and drought relief,irrigation and drainage services and irrigation tests.

Eighth,coordinate law-based water conservancy and technological innovation.We will fully implement the Regulation on Farmland Water Management and the Regulation on Land Requisition Compensation and Resettlement Caused by Large and Medium-sized Water and Hydropower Projects (revised) as well as intensify punishment on those who use water resources in illegal ways.We will beef up safe production responsibility system by improving the supervision,auditing and review of water conservancy projects,strive for breakthroughs in conservancy technology and accelerate the transfer and dissemination of research results.We will deepen multilateral and bilateral international cooperation and improve the informatization of key water conservancy projects.

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[1] "Three Red Lines" are the red line for controlling water resources development and utilization,the red line for controlling water use efficiency and the red line for controlling pollution discharge.

[2] The Five Development Concepts are "innovation,coordination,environment-friendliness,openness and sharing of development results".

[3] Heads of governments at all levels act as heads of rivers or lakes and assume the responsibility of dealing with the pollution of rivers or lakes within their jurisdiction.