Changtan River in Yunyang County, Chongqing. (Photo/Chongqing Water Resources Bureau)

Chongqing - Over the past five years, Chongqing has strengthened its ability to prevent and respond to floods and droughts through digital transformation and intelligent management.

At a press conference on October 17, Song Gangyong, Deputy Director of the Chongqing Water Resources Bureau, said that Chongqing has developed a water and drought disaster prevention application that integrates data from 16,000 monitoring devices. The city has also introduced an AI-powered voice system, enabling faster communication, coordinated responses, and smarter flood control decisions. 

In addition, a list-based, closed-loop management system tracks risks in places — from mountain flood-prone areas to weak flood control points — ensuring targeted, site-specific management across the city.

The city now operates a three-tier rainfall monitoring network comprising meteorological satellites, rainfall radars, and hydrological stations. This system can forecast major river floods more than 72 hours in advance and minor river floods over 24 hours ahead. Chongqing has also reduced its average warning response time from more than two hours to under 15 minutes.

The city has developed a cross-regional, full-basin water network dispatch system based on real-time monitoring and a rapid alert system. This system coordinates operations at more than 600 reservoirs and stores 10.63 billion cubic meters of floodwater. While mitigating flood risks, the city has also converted the stored water into hydropower, generating over 1 billion kilowatt-hours of additional electricity.

Liu Zhong, Director of the Chongqing Water Resources Bureau, said at the conference that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), Chongqing successfully managed seven major basin-wide floods and two regional droughts, achieving the goal of no casualties, no dam failures, no major levee breaches, no impact on key infrastructure, and ensuring safe water supply for both urban and rural areas.