Global Water Partnership - GWP

Artificial intelligence-based flood prevention system reviewed 

GWP China, in partnership with experts from Hohai University and Tongji University, helped Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian Province, review its artificial intelligence (AI)-based urban water management system in 2022, two years after the system was launched. 

The ‘Water Intelligent System’ (WIS), which is designed to protect Fuzhou against devastating floods, was developed in 2020 with support from GWP China’s technical team. The multistakeholder digital platform covers 1000 reservoirs, lakes, pools, rivers, gates, stations, and underground rainwater and sewage pipelines, 500 km of riverside footpaths, and hundreds of parks. It promotes collaboration between water, urban, and rural development authorities, and environment and meteorology services, helping them to work together to respond rapidly to heavy rainfall, typhoons, and other extreme climate issues. The system’s value was proven in April 2022, when it helped protect urban water sources and Fuzhou’s residents from flooding during a period of extreme rainfall. 

The review team made three suggestions for improving the system:  

  • It should be updated more frequently on the actual situation in Fuzhou to improve the accuracy of the AI model and the value of its application; 
  • The scheduling system should be enhanced, guided by a knowledge map; 
  • The WIS should be applied in other cities to improve services according to local demand. 

Exploring how China’s River Chief System could help tackle plastic pollution 

A report, “Partnerships for Plastic Pollution Control in the Yangtze River: Strengthening Coordination using the River Chief System”, published by GWP at the end of 2022 explored how China’s River Chief System (RCS) could be capitalised on within a multistakeholder partnership mechanism to coordinate the control and monitoring of plastic and microplastic pollution in the Yangtze River. 

The RCS is an organisational structure originally introduced in the early 2000s to support the protection and environmental management of rivers and lakes in China. The report identified the following characteristics of the RCS, which it suggested could help the RCS provide enhanced coordination for plastic pollution monitoring and control: 

  • Multilevel coordination 
  • Cross-sectoral collaboration 
  • Participatory 
  • Context-dependent 
  • Results oriented 
  • Adaptive management. 

The report made recommendations on how to capitalise on the RCS and turn it into a foundational mechanism for multistakeholder coordinated action. 

The process of building a multistakeholder partnership had begun in July 2022 at a meeting of more than 20 experts representing relevant stakeholders, who had concluded that a joint approach based on the RCS would offer unique advantages to promote the prevention and control of plastic pollution in the Yangtze River basin. 

Raising awareness of the importance of rivers  

GWP China coordinator Yunzhong Jiang teamed up with the newspaper China Youth Daily to celebrate National Day in October 2022 by taking part in a series of live online broadcasts under the theme of ‘Rushing Rivers’.  

In one broadcast, Professor Jiang took viewers on a visual tour of the Yangtze River, explaining its significance in the history of human civilisation and to China today. Calling it ‘the mother river of the Chinese nation’, he described how the Yangtze River supports about 33 per cent of China’s population, produces 32.5 per cent of the nation’s food, and concentrates about 36 per cent of its gross domestic product. The river, he said, is an important support for the development of the Chinese nation. 

In a second broadcast, Professor Jiang explored the importance of the Yellow River.