Chongqing - Southwest China's Chongqing is investing 732 billion yuan (USD 103 billion) to revolutionize its water systems, propelling smart city development. 

By 2035, the city aims to establish an advanced, digitally managed water network integrating technologies such as Beidou, 5G, IPV6, and NB-IoT, as announced by the Chongqing Water Resources Bureau on January 15. 

The Jinji Reservoir is located in Zhong County, Chongqing. (Photo/ Chongqing Water Resources Bureau)

Jiang Xia, director of the Chongqing Water Resources Bureau, laid out the city's water network construction plan, which is about immediate improvements and long-term goals stretching to 2050. The initial focus is on finalizing the water network in the primary urban areas. The plan is dedicated to establishing a resilient and equitable system for water resource management, safeguarding against floods, and preserving water ecology.

"The plan prioritizes flood prevention and mitigation, construction of water supply projects, water ecology protection, and the development of an intelligent water network," said Jiang. 

Key components of the plan include fortifying the main streams and critical sections of important rivers like the Yangtze, Jialing, Wujiang, and others. This involves enhancing flood control, water supply, and ecological functions. The project also underscores the significance of the Three Gorges Reservoir as a strategic freshwater resource, promoting integrated conservation and restoration efforts in the reservoir area.

Jiang further detailed that the overall investment for these varied projects is projected to reach 732 billion yuan, with a substantial 572.6 billion yuan being allocated before 2035.

A crucial focus of this extensive initiative is digital innovation, with 19.6 billion yuan allocated to develop a digital twin water network system. It will leverage Chongqing's digital resources to establish an integrated sky-air-ground monitoring and sensing network for online tracking, forecasting, and early warning in rivers, lakes, and water management activities. 

Another focus is on Information technology for a smart water management system. Chongqing aims to improve communication networks, increasing the main municipal network's bandwidth to over 200Mbps and the county-level network to over 100Mbps. This upgrade involves establishing an engineering control network and a centralized control center for Chongqing's entire water network. This centralized system will enable real-time scheduling, project control, and efficient data transmission. 

Furthermore, Chongqing aims to bolster its emergency communication capabilities by adopting advanced communication technologies like Beidou, 5G, IPV6, and NB-IoT.

IPv6 is the next-generation Internet Protocol address standard intended to supplement and eventually replace IPv4, the protocol many Internet services still use today, while the Narrowband-Internet of Things (IoT) is a type of Low Power Wide Area radio technology that connects devices to IoT.

By 2050, the city envisions a modernized, comprehensive, and three-dimensional water network, marking a significant leap in its water management capabilities and ecological conservation efforts.