The event, supported by the Hebei Provincial Department of Water Resources and the Hebei Water Resources Society, was jointly hosted by the Hebei Provincial Hydrological Survey and Research Center and the Global Water Partnership China Hebei. Jiang Yunzhong, Vice President of the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research and Secretary-General of the Global Water Partnership China; Bian Wenhui, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director-General of the Hebei Provincial Department of Water Resources; Liang Jianyi, Honorary Chair of the Hebei Water Resources Society and chair of the Global Water Partnership China Hebei; Feng Qiancheng, chair of the Hebei Water Resources Society; and Bai Yunpeng, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Hebei Provincial Hydrological Center, attended and delivered speeches. The establishment of this committee signifies a new phase of coordinated efforts in China's groundwater governance sector and provides a novel platform for Hebei's hydrological endeavors to serve the national water resources strategy.
During the conference, the "Letter of GWP China Approving the Establishment of the Groundwater Working Committee" was read aloud, and the "Work Regulations of the Groundwater Working Committee of GWP China" were reviewed and adopted. The first batch of leaders for the Groundwater Working Committee of the GWP China were elected, with Bai Yunpeng appointed as chair and eight members, including Wang Feng'an, elected as Vice chair and Secretary-General. Additionally, the Expert Advisory Committee of the Groundwater Working Committee was established, with Liang Jianyi serving as Honorary Chief Expert and Feng Qiancheng as Chief Expert. The conference also featured an unveiling ceremony for the Groundwater Working Committee of the GWP China.
Jiang Yunzhong, Secretary General, GWP China
On behalf of GWP China, Jiang Yunzhong delivered a speech congratulating the establishment of the Groundwater Working Committee. He emphasized that its establishment is a key measure to respond to national strategic needs and integrate industry resources, filling the gap of a national professional collaboration platform for groundwater. It provides a new path for collaboration among government, industry, academia, research institutions, and end-users to address regional groundwater governance issues, with significant and far-reaching implications. He highlighted the committee's three major missions: "bridge and link," "think tank support," and "international window," aiming to integrate resources, serve national strategies, and promote the internationalization of China's experience. For standardized operation, the committee must adhere to the dual management principle, maintain compliance, and strengthen internal collaboration. In the future, the committee should focus on core tasks such as over-exploitation control and pollution remediation, build a strong expert platform, deepen cooperation, standardize management, and strive to become a benchmark institution in the water resources field.
Bian Wenhui, Deputy Director-General, the Hebei Provincial Department of Water Resources
Bai Yunpeng made a statement, pointing out that Hebei Province has built a province-wide automatic groundwater monitoring network with 3,151 national and provincial control stations, laying a foundation for scientific management. As a resource-based water-scarce province, Hebei suffers from severe groundwater over-exploitation, with the largest over-exploitation area in China. Its complex hydrogeological conditions make research and governance more difficult. After years of practice, Hebei has taken the lead in comprehensive governance of over-exploitation and formed the "Hebei Model" with rich experience and complete data. Relevant achievements have effectively supported the determination of the upper limit of groundwater exploitation, dynamic management and control, and performance evaluation, providing important references for national governance. He said that as the host unit, the Hebei Provincial Hydrological Center will fully support the efficient operation of the committee. First, build a "two-way empowerment" cooperation platform, relying on Hebei's rich governance practices and monitoring resources to provide scientific research scenarios and data support for national experts; second, strengthen "full-chain" service guarantees, improve funding, venues, and exchange mechanisms, and organize at least one national technical seminar every year; third, promote in-depth integration of government, industry, academia, research institutions, and end-users, facilitate the transformation of technical achievements and the promotion of governance models, and realize a virtuous cycle of "practice feeding back theory and theory guiding practice"; fourth, build a top-tier think tank of former leaders and experts, give full play to the guiding and consulting role of the Expert Advisory Committee, and jointly promote the groundwater industry to a new level. In the future, efforts will be made to build the Groundwater Working Committee into a benchmark platform integrating technical research, achievement transformation, and experience promotion, contributing Hebei's hydrological strength to safeguarding national groundwater resources security and promoting sustainable groundwater use.
More than 70 people attended the conference, including authoritative experts, scholars, and technical backbones from institutions such as the Information Center of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Water Resources Beifang Investigation, Design and Research Co., Ltd., China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrogeology and Karst Geology of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Hohai University, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), and China University of Mining and Technology (Xuzhou), as well as representatives from nine enterprises including the Nanjing Automation Institute of Water Conservancy and Hydrology of the Ministry of Water Resources and Beijing All-Telecom Information Technology Co., Ltd. The conference was held in a hybrid offline and online format.