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Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 23 (Reporter Ban Juanjuan). On June 23, the Economic Information Daily published an article titled “A Century of Water Conservancy Development: Testimony to Water Management and Nation-Building.” The article states that on June 21, Unit 14 of the right bank power plant at the Baihe Tan Hydropower Station was successfully connected to the power grid in synchronization, marking the official entry of the first 1 million-kilowatt hydroelectric unit into the grid connection testing phase. It is reported that the Baihetan Hydropower Station is the world’s second-largest hydropower station, second only to the Three Gorges Project. The first batch of units is scheduled to begin generating electricity by July 1, with all units set to start operating by July 2022. By then, the electricity generated in a day will be sufficient to meet the daily energy needs of 100 million people in our country. This is a microcosm of the rapid development of large-scale water conservancy projects in our country. Looking back at the past century, our country has carried out large-scale water conservancy projects, making coordinated efforts in disaster prevention related to water, water conservation, protection and restoration of aquatic ecosystems, as well as water environment management, and has achieved remarkable and outstanding results in water management and development. The scale and number of water conservancy projects rank among the highest in the world, and a relatively complete infrastructure system for flood control of rivers, water supply for urban and rural areas, and farmland irrigation has been established, providing strong support for economic and social development. The Erzha Project, located between Ba Ma Road and Zhicheng Road in Hebei District, Tianjin, bears witness to the socio-economic changes brought about by a century of water conservancy development. E’zha is the first lock on the Xin Kaihe River; it was constructed in 1919 and completed in 1921. The Laoerzha hub project played an important role in diverting floodwaters during the flood season, while also serving to hold back water, facilitate navigation, and promote the development of urban water management systems in normal times. Today, with the full advancement of the comprehensive development of the Haihe River, Ear Gate Park—comprised of the newly built ship-shaped Ear Gate and the old Ear Gate—has become one of the important scenic spots along the Haihe River. It features areas such as riverside landscapes and geological park exhibition zones, serving as a urban “green lung” for citizens to relax in. Ensuring that the public has access to safe drinking water and providing impetus for economic development through water resources is a key goal of water infrastructure development. In the past, Tianjin faced shortages of water for agriculture and ecological purposes, and polluted, murky waters posed a serious problem for the local population; \"All rivers were dry, and all water was polluted.\" ”In 1983, the Luan River to Tianjin water diversion project was fully operational, with clear water from the Luan River flowing continuously to Tianjin. “Before the introduction of water from the Luan River to Tianjin, we drank brackish water ； Now, everyone can drink sweet water. Moreover, by building water-saving cities, the efficiency of water resource utilization has been improved. ”Zhou Chaohong, the chief engineer of the Tianjin Water Affairs Bureau, told reporters. It is reported that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Tianjin improved the water quality for drinking purposes in 2,061 villages and 2.022 million people by constructing new water plants, building and upgrading water distribution plants, and laying out water supply and distribution networks. The proportion of water quality classified as poor Category V dropped from 55% to zero, the effective utilization coefficient for irrigation water in agricultural fields increased to 0.72, and the key water-saving indicators remained at a national leading level. The Sini Temple Water Control Project, located in Dezhou City, Shandong Province, is a large-scale water management facility on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, with construction beginning in 1957. The Beijin Flood Gate has been in use for over 40 years, with aging equipment and cracks in the bottom slab of the gate chamber. In 2019, after more than a year of construction on the risk mitigation and reinforcement project for the Beijin Flood Gate, which involved a total investment of 99.4 million yuan, the area was given a new look. As the world’s earliest constructed and longest artificial canal, the Grand Canal of China is a milestone in the history of Chinese water conservancy projects. The section of the Grand Canal in Gucheng, Hebei, is part of the Zhang-Wei South Canal system. What was once a bumpy, muddy road is now a hardened path. The newly built Gucheng Canal Scenic Park has become a new waterside space that combines green ecology, leisure and entertainment, and cultural dissemination, bringing new vitality to the Grand Canal in Gucheng. In recent years, our country has made full use of major water conservancy projects to increase effective investment. According to a responsible official from the Planning and Programming Department of the Marine Affairs Commission under the Ministry of Water Resources, China’s investment structure in water resources continues to improve, with steady growth in its scale. *Since then, the total investment in water conservancy projects across the entire basin has exceeded 310 billion yuan; during the 13th Five-Year Plan period alone, the total investment in water conservancy reached 2124 billion yuan, marking the highest level in the basin’s history. Looking ahead to the 14th Five-Year Plan period, water resources departments will also plan and advance a number of fundamental and strategic major water infrastructure projects for the management of large rivers and lakes, accelerating the construction of 150 such projects in order to write a new chapter in the high-quality development of the economy and society. (End) Source: Xinhua News Agency