China built the world's largest and most comprehensive conservancy infrastructure network that benefits the largest population during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), according to data released by the Ministry of Water Resources on Wednesday. The data showed that 88 rivers had been restored by the end of September this year, following the launch of the "mother river rejuvenation" action plan in 2022, with 79 of those rivers fully reconnected to the nation’s river network. In the Haihe River Basin, 30 previously dried-up rivers have started flowing again and 102 springs have been restored, reversing a long-standing trend of dry channels and polluted waters, according to the ministry. Between 2021 to 2025, China invested more than one trillion yuan (about 140 billion U.S. dollars) in water conservancy projects for three consecutive years, breaking historical records. The investment funded a new generation of water source, diversion, and irrigation projects, boosting the nation's total water supply capacity to 900 billion cubic meters. The first phase of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project's eastern and middle routes, the backbone and main artery of the country's major water network, delivered more than 83 billion cubic meters in total, benefiting about 195 million people. The water network coverage rate is expected to reach 80.3 percent by the end of 2025. From 2021 to 2025, China has built 95,000 water reservoirs with a total capacity exceeding one trillion cubic meters. The country now ranks first globally in the number and types of reservoirs and the number of high dams. Also, during the 14th Five-Year Plan, irrigated arable land has expanded to 1.09 billion mu (about 72.7 million hectares) across China, providing crucial water resources to support a record grain output of more than 700 million tonnes in 2024. In addition, China has established the world's largest centralized rural water supply system, with 96 percent of the rural population expected to have access to tap water by the end of 2025. Shotlist: Beijing, China - Oct 16, 2025: FILE: Exact Location Unknown, China - Date Unknown 1. Aerial shots of rivers; 2. Birds; 3. Aerial shot of inner-city river; 4. Aerial shot of cityscape; FILE: Gansu Province, northwest China - Date Unknown 5. Aerial shots of mountains; lake; 6. River; trees; FILE: Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, east China - Date Unknown 7. Aerial shots of vessels at river; buildings; trees; pedestrians on bridge; FILE: Jinan City, Shandong Province, east China - Date Unknown 8. Aerial shot of spring water; 9. Spring water; 10. Aerial shot of trees; river; FILE: Sichuan Province, southwest China - Date Unknown 11. Aerial shots of dams; river; mountains; Beijing, China - Oct 16, 2025 12. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhang Xiangwei, director, Department of Planning and Programming, Ministry of Water Resources (starting with shot 11): "Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, [we] have been focusing on high-quality development and ensuring China's water security so as to comprehensively advance water conservancy infrastructure construction, which has helped form the world's largest and most functional water conservancy infrastructure system that benefits the largest population.”; FILE: Zhejiang Province, east China - Date Unknown 13. Aerial shot of mountains; lake; 14. Dam; 15. Aerial shots of cityscape; 16. Pedestrians; FILE: Anji County, Zhejiang Province, east China - Date Unknown 17. Aerial shot of dam; mountains; 18. Aerial shot of houses; lake; FILE: Henan Province, central China - Date Unknown 19. Irrigation in progress; FILE: Qingdao City, Shandong Province, east China - Date Unknown 20. Irrigation in progress; FILE: Exact Location Unknown, China - Date Unknown 21. Irrigation in progress; FILE: Hubei Province, central China - Date Unknown 22. Aerial shot of water storage ponds; buildings; 23. Water stored in pond. [Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]