China will further enhance flood control and disaster reduction capacity and promote the ecological restoration of rivers and lakes. China invested a record 985.6 billion yuan (about $137.09 billion) in the construction of water conservancy facilities during the first eight months of the year, an official said Wednesday at a press conference.

Minister of Water Resources Li Guoying said the construction of water conservancy projects created more than 1.97 million jobs from January to August and provided "strong support for the recovery of the country's economy." A total of 23,600 water conservancy projects were launched during this period, which is also a historical high, Li added.

In addition to advancing the construction of water conservancy projects, China also intensified its efforts to protect and restore freshwater ecosystems. Nearly 7 billion cubic meters of water were injected into 48 rivers and lakes in the Haihe River Basin in 2022, and most rivers in north China have had flowing and clean water, while more and more rivers have come back to life, Li said.

Yao Wenguang, director general of the Department of Flood and Drought Disaster Prevention of the Ministry of Water Resources, also introduced the progress of China’s flood control system, as China just experienced the largest flood in the Haihe River Basin since 1963 in July. He indicated that during the fight against the Haihe River’s flood, 84 large and medium-sized reservoirs had stored 2.85 billion cubic meters of floodwater, avoiding 24 towns and 7.51 million mu of farmland from being flooded, thus avoiding the transfer of 4.62 million people.

Yao also said the Ministry of Water Resources, together with local departments, will speed up the construction of flood control reservoirs and dikes in flood detention areas and speed up the construction of rain and flood monitoring and forecasting.

(With input from Xinhua)