The Paper:

The overexploitation of groundwater in North China has drawn much attention from society. What progress has been made in the comprehensive treatment of this problem and the ecological water replenishment of rivers and lakes in the region since the 18th CPC National Congress was held? Thank you.

Li Guoying:

Due to various historical reasons, North China's ecological environment of rivers and lakes was once seriously damaged, and a large area of land subsidence has been caused because of the overexploitation of groundwater. In March 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping made clear requirements and specific arrangements for addressing groundwater overexploitation and land subsidence in the North China Plain. The MWR, together with the relevant departments of the State Council and local governments, resolutely carried out General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions, and took a series of measures including "saving, controlling, replacing, replenishing and managing" to vigorously implement comprehensive treatment of groundwater overexploitation. The first is "saving," that is, saving water and strengthening the saving of water on the demand side. Three measures were adopted in North China: saving water and improving efficiency in agriculture, saving water and reducing emissions in industry, and saving water and reducing losses in urban areas. The second is "controlling," that is, strictly controlling the scale and intensity of groundwater exploitation. For agriculture, which is the largest user of water, the methods of fallow rotation and developing rain-fed agriculture were adopted. At the same time, the development of water-intensive industries was strictly controlled. The third is "replacing," that is, the replacement of groundwater with other water sources. Industries and sectors, which previously used groundwater as their source of water, switched to surface water in production. The groundwater sources for them have been replaced with water from the central and eastern routes of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the Yellow River, local surface water, and unconventional local water resources. The fourth is "replenishing." Underground water in North China is mainly replenished by rivers and lakes. However, rivers in the region have been cut off for some time and lakes have dried up for a long time, meaning that there is no supplementary source of groundwater. Therefore, from a broader perspective, we are considering having ecological water replenishment for rivers and lakes in North China. Over the past two years, the MWR has stepped up efforts to replenish water in the Yongding River, Baiyangdian Lake and the canal section north of the Yellow River of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The fifth is "managing," that is, carrying out strict regulation over the exploitation of groundwater. The first step is to delineate the areas with groundwater overexploitation in North China, delimiting areas where exploitation is forbidden or restricted, and then implementing strict management within these areas. Especially in areas where the deep groundwater has been overexploited, mechanical and electric wells have been closed or even sealed. At the same time, the groundwater monitoring system has been established to conduct strict supervision and assessment.

By implementing the five measures I just mentioned, significant results have been achieved in recent years, which are mainly reflected in the following aspects: the latest statistics from the end of December 2021 show that shallow groundwater recovered by 1.89 meters and the deep confined water recovered by 4.65 meters in the groundwater overexploitation control areas in North China compared with the same period in 2018. Meanwhile, monitoring results show that the recharge of groundwater has reached 8 billion cubic meters over the years. The Yongding River, Chaobai River and Hutuo River have resumed their flow. Baiyangdian Lake has come back to life. The canal section north of the Yellow River of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which has been cut off and dried up for nearly a hundred years, has also achieved the full flow connection this year, realizing the centennial joining-up with the Yongding River. Thank you.