China will beef up monitoring and forecasting of its 98,000 reservoirs nationwide to prevent and control floods and ensure people's safety, an official with the Ministry of Water Resources said on Wednesday.
Yao Wenguang, director of the ministry's department of flood and drought disaster prevention, said the ministry will beef up efforts in strict regulation, forecasting and emergency management.
"We should inspect and handle dangerous situations to ensure the safe operation of reservoirs and transfer people downstream in advance," Yao said.
Plans for reservoir operations and flood control will be formulated. "We have strictly supervised the use of reservoirs during flood seasons, when reservoirs must not operate over flood limit water levels and dangerous reservoirs should be empty," Yao said.
Forecasts and early warning will be more accurate and cover a longer time span, he added. "We will accurately predict the upstream flood peak and flood volume of the reservoir, and promptly notify affected areas."
Reservoirs' role of blocking floods and staggering flood peak times will be fully implemented amid the scientific research during the flood season.
Statistics from the ministry show since the flood season this year, 2,415 large and medium-sized reservoirs across the country have blocked nearly 65 billion cubic meters of floods, reduced flooding in 720 cities and towns, and avoided the evacuation of 3.95 million people.
