BEIJING - China is aiming to upgrade its water-handling facilities during the coming five to 10 years in a bid to ensure the security of grain production and mitigate the impact of droughts and floods.

President Hu Jintao said at a meeting on Friday and Saturday that water projects will be prioritized within the country's infrastructure construction plans and such work will focus on irrigation and water conservancy in rural areas.

By 2020, China will establish a water infrastructure system that will be capable of shielding the nation from the impact of floods and droughts. The system will also ensure water is well protected and used efficiently, he said.

It was the first time that the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a meeting focusing on water resources, showing the great importance attached to water conservation.

Analysts said the fact that such a high-level meeting was held shows China will put water conservancy high on its agenda - equal in status to grain and oil - as it pursues sustainable development.

Since the beginning of this year, the CPC Central Committee has given a great deal of attention to water conservancy. The committee and the State Council release a document at the start of each year highlighting the government's future priorities. The document often addresses rural issues but focused on water conservation this year for the first time.

In the document, the government vowed to double its average annual spending on water conservation during the coming 10 years in comparison to the 200 billion yuan ($31 billion) it invested in 2010.

Analysts believe China is facing a serious situation in terms of water conservation issues after years of industrialization and urbanization.

For a long time, the country's agricultural development has relied on natural conditions and at least half of the nation's arable land lacks basic irrigation.

In areas where there are irrigation systems, the facilities were built long ago and often have not been well maintained, leading to the waste of water.

The country's many water conservancy projects also need to be reinforced in a bid to better resist floods and handle droughts, say experts.

A string of floods and droughts in recent years have exposed weaknesses in the water conservancy infrastructures nationwide.

Last year, a severe drought hit Southwest China and serious flooding also affected some regions.

This year, rain-triggered floods have battered central and southern regions since June, killing people, destroying homes and inundating farmland. The floods followed droughts that had lasted for months and that had damaged crops and threatened drinking water.

Premier Wen Jiabao reiterated the importance of water projects at the meeting, saying the major tasks ahead will be to improve water facilities so they can mitigate floods and droughts while the nation also steps up the reinforcement of small reservoirs, expands irrigation and ensures the supply of drinking water.

The meeting triggered work on a series of major water initiatives that will be crucial to economic development.

According to the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the country aims to improve the management of 5,000 medium-sized and small rivers by 2015. Efforts will also be made to reinforce 41,000 small reservoirs that have a capacity of more than 100,000 cubic meters by 2015. And China will also aim to maintain annual water consumption at less than 670 billion cubic meters for the next five years.

China Daily - Xinhua

(China Daily 07/11/2011 page4)