Yingshan, Sichuan: the main works of Chapan and Yanjing reservoir irrigation area reconstruction project have been basically completed

In early summer, in Xinhua Village, Luoshi Town, Yingshan County, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, gurgling water flowed along the newly built channels, moistening the growing seedlings. "There is no need to grab water for irrigation this year!" the villager Chen Hong smiled as he looked at his rice field.

As one of the 24 pilot projects in the province to promote the continued construction and modernization of medium-sized irrigation areas, the Chapan and Yanjing reservoir irrigation areas have been basically completed after intensive construction since their commencement in November 2025. Among them, the salt well irrigation area took the lead in the spring irrigation of this year. The old canal system, which used to be "running, emitting, dripping and leaking, and difficult to access water", has now become a people-friendly artery of "smooth water flow and precise drip irrigation".

Included in the pilot old irrigation area to usher in "new life"

On May 30, we walked into the reconstruction project site of Chapan reservoir irrigation area. The main channel has been opened up, and the workers are busy installing auxiliary facilities. Yanjing and Chapan reservoir irrigation districts were both built in the 1950s. After more than half a century of wind and rain erosion, the problems of channel leakage, siltation and collapse are very prominent. The channel integrity rate of the two irrigation districts is only 3.23%. The "upstream water is surging, and the downstream water can not be poured" has become the normal agricultural production of the irrigation district. In recent years, the people in the irrigation area have increasingly strong demands for reconstruction.

In order to thoroughly solve this livelihood problem, Yingshan County seized the policy opportunity of the province to promote the continued construction and modernization of medium-sized irrigation areas, and successfully included the Chapan and Yanjing reservoir irrigation areas into the provincial pilot projects. The project has upgraded the whole chain of more than 110 km of dangerous canal system, synchronously built 1012 small buildings such as irrigation area information system, sluice gate and pedestrian bridge, and realized the full coverage transformation of canal system.

"The project route is long, the geological conditions are complex, and the construction difficulty is not small." according to Deng Ke, the project leader, in order to ensure the water supply on schedule, the construction party has refined the construction task of 74km backbone canal system and 36km final canal system to days according to the requirements of "inverted construction period and wall map operation", and invested more than 50 sets of mechanical equipment every day to realize the seamless connection of ditch excavation, formwork casting and supporting facilities construction.

At the same time, the county has also built a multi-level linkage pattern of "county-level overall planning, department coordination, township leadership, village group implementation and mass participation". The county Party committee and the county government set up special work teams, implemented the promotion mechanism of "daily report and weekly scheduling", and timely solved the difficult problems of land coordination and material transportation; The County Water Affairs Bureau and the county Xingfu Reservoir Management Bureau strengthened technical guidance; The target performance management office of the county Party committee shall supervise on a spot basis; The County Finance Bureau speeds up the financial evaluation and guarantees the allocation of funds; Villages and towns shall assign special personnel to the site to handle contradictions and disputes; The village group publicized the policy through the yard dam meeting, and gathered a strong joint force of "the government building the canal and the people protecting the canal".

"Up to now, the main body of the project has been basically completed, and the remaining works are mainly small canal buildings and information facilities, which will be fully completed in August." zhongmaomi, deputy director of Yingshan Xingfu Reservoir Authority, introduced.

Spring irrigation is effective. People say goodbye to the "heaven watching"

"Open the gate and release water!" on May 21, as the gate of Yanjing reservoir was slowly lifted, the clear water flowed down the newly built channel to Chaoyang grain and oil modern agricultural park in Yingshan County. This is the first full operation of salt well irrigation area after reconstruction. In just half an hour, the water flow reached the Sanyuan Branch Canal two kilometers away from the reservoir. "In the past, it took more than two hours for the water to reach here!" Li Ziqiang, head of the north trunk canal water conservancy unit of Yingshan County Xingfu Reservoir Authority, said with emotion as he stood beside the Sanyuan Branch Canal.

In group 7, Xinhua Village, Luoshi Town, the villager CHENHONG's home is close to the Hujia branch canal. She told the author that in the past, the Hujia branch canal was seriously leaking and blocked, and the water could hardly flow to the downstream. The villagers had to lock the front main canal to use water. "Most of the time, we can only use the water from the pond. In dry years, when the pond is dry, we can only spread dry seedlings, and the harvest is a large part less." this year, with the renovation of the branch canal, the gurgling clear water flows directly to her field. "Look at the seedlings. They are all in good order. This year must be a bumper harvest!" guihaowen, a big rice grower in Dongsheng Town, also felt deeply: "in previous years, he could not wait for water for half a month. Now he has watered all the fields in two days. The farming time is not delayed at all."

The improvement of water use efficiency has directly led to the decline of agricultural production costs. Puxianping, the principal of Yingshan Jinshi Valley agricultural and animal husbandry cooperatives, calculated an account for the author: "in the past, the cooperatives used to draw water from ditches and ponds, and the electricity charge per mu of land was 15 yuan. Now, directly using the reservoir water can save more than 10000 yuan in a year."

During the spring irrigation this year, the Yanjing reservoir discharged more than 1million cubic meters of water, and the water utilization coefficient of the canal system was raised to 0.75. 15100 people bid farewell to the history of "relying on heaven for food and carrying water to irrigate the land". The Chapan irrigation area will soon be put into use. At that time, the two irrigation areas will build a "water barrier" for 52700 mu of farmland.

"Through the way of irrigation area decoration, we have built and improved the headworks, backbone canal systems, branch canals, etc., opened up the 'last mile' of farmland irrigation, and formed a irrigation and drainage system coordinated from water source to field, from water supply to water use, and from water intake to drainage. In the past, the problems of difficult irrigation, low efficiency, and too much waste, which were strongly reflected by the people, will be basically solved this year." chenqionghua, director of Yingshan County Xingfu Reservoir Management Bureau, said that after the project is fully put into use, the irrigation area will implement accurate regulation and efficient water delivery, providing a solid water conservancy guarantee for food security and Rural Revitalization.

Pay equal attention to construction and management, and keep "reassuring water" flowing

The irrigation canal is clear and the fields are full of vitality.

On June 1, the author followed Yan Gang, a staff member of the South Main Canal water conservancy unit of Yingshan County Xingfu Reservoir Authority, to patrol the canal. When passing through Wulipai branch canal, Yan Gang found a dead tree lying across the canal, which affected the normal flow of water. He immediately took off his shoes, went down the canal and cleaned it up at one go. Yan Gang's face smiled as he watched the gurgling water flowing smoothly.

Yan Gang told the author that in the past, the channel was in disrepair for a long time, seriously blocked and leaking along the way. In order to pour more land, people often secretly dug holes in the channel and had to go back and forth several times a day to dissuade.

Water conservancy projects are divided into three parts and seven parts. In order to ensure the long-term and stable benefits of irrigation projects, Yingshan County adheres to the principle of paying equal attention to construction and management, with a long-term effect, and comprehensively improves the fine, standardized and modern management and protection level of water conservancy projects.

"By improving the working mechanism of joint protection of water conservancy facilities, we have worked with the agricultural and rural, water affairs and other functional departments as well as the local towns and townships to regularly carry out inspection and control along the canal system and publicity on the rule of water conservancy law, and standardize the management and protection order of water conservancy projects under our jurisdiction. At the same time, we have also publicized the importance of water conservancy facilities protection to the people along the line through yard dam meetings and other means." xiongli, deputy director of Yingshan County Xingfu Reservoir Administration, said that the people have also become "non staff inspectors", who can report problems at any time, and the management department will deal with them immediately.

A canal of running water moistens the paths, promotes water, benefits the people and helps revitalize. From the "waste channel" of "running, emitting, dripping and leaking" to the "living water network" of "water flowing smoothly", and from "relying on heaven" to "precision irrigation", Yingshan County has promoted the reconstruction project of teapan and Yanjing reservoir irrigation area through the whole packaging, so as to inject strong momentum into the water foundation of "Tianfu granary" and promote the high-quality development of agriculture in the county with tangible results. (pengchuanheng)