After several ups and downs in history, by 1949 the country had an irrigated area of ​​16 million hectares (240 million mu).

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, extensive and long-lasting infrastructure construction of irrigation and drainage projects has been carried out, and great achievements have been made that have attracted worldwide attention, providing irreplaceable infrastructure and material guarantee for the sustainable development of my country's agriculture and national economy. By the end of 2003, the country's irrigated area reached 55.8 million hectares, making 40% of the arable land available for irrigation. In 1949, the water consumption for irrigation was less than 100 billion cubic meters, accounting for about 16.3% of the cultivated land area at that time. The per capita irrigated area is 0.03 hectares (0.44 mu). By 2003, it will reach 330 billion cubic meters.

Plastic water intake valve 2124

Since 1980, the effective utilization rate of irrigation water and production efficiency have gradually increased. Calculated according to the actual irrigation area, the national average irrigation water per hectare was 8,745 cubic meters in 1980, which dropped to 7,800 cubic meters in 1997. During the same period, the grain production per cubic meter of irrigation water increased from about 0.6 kg to about 1 kg. A total of 5,686 irrigation areas of more than 10,000 mu (667 hectares) have been built nationwide, with an irrigated area of ​​more than 22 million hectares, accounting for 43% of the country's irrigated farmland area. There are 84,905 reservoirs in the country, with a total storage capacity of 457.1 billion cubic meters. Except for a few large reservoirs that are mainly used for flood control and power generation, most of them have the function of irrigation and water supply.

By the end of 2002, more than 18.6 million hectares (280 million mu) of water-saving irrigation had been developed nationwide, including more than 2.47 million hectares (more than 37 million mu) of sprinkler irrigation, more than 300 million hectares of micro-irrigation, and more than 6.14 million hectares of low-pressure pipeline water delivery irrigation hectares (more than 62 million mu), and the canal seepage control area is more than 7.56 million hectares (more than 113.5 million mu). The non-engineering water-saving area reached 16.7 million hectares, of which 8 million hectares were paddy fields using controlled irrigation methods. Waterlogging control reached 20.27 million hectares, accounting for 83% of the waterlogging-prone areas that need to be controlled.