Yellow River Conservancy Bags Water Prize

The 2010 Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize 2010 recognises the efforts of Yellow River Conservancy Commission in sustainable river basin management

The Singapore International Water Week announced that the Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC) has been awarded the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize 2010, a prestigious award that recognises outstanding contributions towards solving global water problems by either applying technologies or implementing policies and programmes which benefit humanity. With its success in transforming China’s second-longest river, YRCC outshone 49 other nominees to become the third recipient of the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize.

The Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize Council recognised YRCC’s remarkable progress in overcoming natural and man-made challenges through innovative and sustainable policies and solutions that have enabled the Yellow River to flow unabated over the last 10 years. YRCC’s integrated water allocation programme balances water availability with social, economic and ecological developments. The improved, reliable supply of water brought about by YRCC’s efforts have benefitted and enhanced the quality of life for over one hundred million people both in the basin and in regions served by the river. Large areas of wetlands and biodiversity in Yellow River Delta have also been restored over the years, returning life and vitality to the river.

By regulating water and sediment flow in a river that has the highest average annual sediment transporting volume and concentration in the world, YRCC has been able to significantly reduce the risk of devastating floods that the Yellow River was previously associated with – protecting the 90 million people living in the flood-prone areas downstream of the river from loss of lives and damage to livelihoods and property.

YRCC will receive the award from Singapore’s first Prime Minister and present Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew at Singapore International Water Week 2010 which will be held from June 28 to July 2, 2010. YRCC will also deliver the acclaimed Singapore Water Lecture to 300 government, business and academic leaders at the Water Leaders Summit, where the Commission will share its experience and success factors in returning life and vitality to the Yellow River.

The winning factors include its river management approach ‘Maintaining the Healthy Life of the Yellow River,’ a systemic and holistic approach to the management, allocation and regulation of water supply. With nine provinces and regions along the 5,464-kilometreslong river, YRCC adopts a consultative approach to secure the support of the provincial governments and the people to equitably allocate water for domestic, industrial and agricultural uses, thus preventing abuse and over-exploitation of water resources. YRCC has also implemented an integrated operation of reservoirs along 3,000 kilometres of the river, to regulate river flow and boost storage capacity. Remote sensing and automation is employed to collect real-time river system information to monitor and control the reservoirs and dams. Through the coordinated operation of Xiaolangdi Dam and other reservoirs, YRCC has carried out nine flushing operations since 2002 to regulate the flow of water and sediments in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. This has deepened the riverbed by an average of 1.5 metres for some 900 kilometres downstream of the river and more than doubled the river’s maximum flow capacity from 1,800 m3/s to 3,880 m3/s to substantially improve flood safety.

Instead of facing frequent no flow periods in the 1990s before integrated flow allocation and regulation practices were implemented, the Yellow River has been experiencing continuous flow throughout the year since 1999. To augment its integrated water allocation programme, YRCC also puts in place emergency response plans to manage, control and mitigate major water pollution incidents.

The Commission works closely with environmental protection agencies and has implemented a public notification system to inform the public of any major water pollution incident.

“The work of Yellow River Conservancy Commission has resulted in a reversal of a disastrous trend of over-exploitation of the river by the riparian provinces which resulted in zero flow in the downstream portion and estuary for a number of years. Through the work of YRCC, and supported by demand management measures implemented by the provinces in consultation with YRCC, the river has flowed again throughout the year, during the past years. This constitutes a remarkable achievement with significant ecological and other benefits,” said Wouter Lincklaen Arriens, Lead Professional (Water Resources Management) from the Regional and Sustainable Development Department of the Asian Development Bank.

Previous winners of the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize include Canadian researcher and technopreneur, Dr Andrew Benedek who received the prize in 2008 for pioneering the development of lowpressure membranes; and Professor Gatze Lettinga from the Netherlands whose ground-breaking development of anaerobic technology for used water treatment won him the prize in its second year.