Hechi invests $795m in water infrastructure during 13th Five-Year Plan

Hechi's water resources bureau invested a total of 5.14 billion yuan ($795.07 million) in improving water infrastructure during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), which also provided a boost for local poverty alleviation efforts.

The city completed a batch of water infrastructure construction projects during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, including eight reservoir projects, 43,800 projects for improving rural drinking water security and 55 water diversion projects, benefiting more than 1.57 million rural residents.

Currently, the areas with centralized water supply and running water supply reached 85 percent and 83 percent in Hechi's rural areas.

During the same time period, Hechi also started construction on 14 water resources projects in 10 poverty-stricken counties (districts) at a cost of 2.13 billion yuan. It is expected that the water storage capacity in Hechi will be increased by 63 million cubic meters after their construction.

Dongjia village in Lihu Yao autonomous township of Nandan county, located in a rocky, desert-like area, has no stable water resources, and the rain seeps into a network of underground rivers.

Local governments and water resource departments have taken initiatives such as building water tanks for each family and offering a centralized water supply to help local residents deal with water shortage problems.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Hechi invested 665 million yuan in building 51 water infrastructure projects for cropland in 11 counties (districts), benefiting an overall area of 503,600 mu (33,573.33 hectares).

Efforts have also been made in soil erosion control. The city has invested 175 million yuan over the past five years in controlling soil erosion in an area of about 322 square kilometers.