Water Conservancy And Economic Development For Wanbei District Of Anhui Province

Wanbei district, involves with six cities of Fuyang, Suzhou, Bozhou, Huaibei, Bengbu and Huainan, has 38 thousand km2territory and 2 million hm2 farmland with a population of 28 million. Historically, the plain had been impoverished, due to the floods, water logging and drought. Since the founding of P. R. China, through the consistent water conservancy of more than 50 years, the situation of frequently hit by flood and drought has been changed obviously, and also the local economy has been promoted greatly.Based on the historical disaster record, the paper analyzes the influence on the regional development exercised by the floods and droughts, reach a conclusion that the flood and drought disaster were the most important cause of the backwardness of Wanbei district . The paper describes the process of the water projects, particularly, it reviews the background, the planning and the implementation of the Huaibei cannel-network project which started in 1957, gives a brief evaluation for this major event.Taking the BaoHui River as example, the paper explains the fact that harnessing the river may bring forth the obvious benefits to the local social and economic development. Comprehensive treatment should be adopted to harness the Honghe low-lying land, including readjusting the agricultural set-up, improving the traffic conditions, immigration problems, promoting education, etc. The practice of the water conservancy in Fengtai county shows that the plan of water conservancy should be worked out according to the principal of suiting measures to local conditions.The 2003 flood, has caused the relative influence on economy, development of Anhui Province, the peasant's net income in Wanbei district has decreased by 10% as compared to 2002. A comparison between the regional developments Huaibei Plain and Subei Plain has been given. The causes of the backwardness of Wanbei district have been analyzed. The paper pointed out that the water related infrastructure should be arranged first so as to enhance the agriculture and guarantee the flood-defense safety for the industry development. The water projects for flood control, water logging prevention, irrigation, water supply and water environmental protection should be conducted according to the theory of sustainable development.Finally, the paper summarizes some of the enlightenments from the practice of water conservancy in Wanbei district during the last 50 years, hold that the water conservancy in the Wanbei district have been and will be play an important role in the regional development. Two suggestions have been raised. Firstly, we should seize the golden opportunity to speed up the construction of water-related projects in Wanbei district. Secondly, the regional differential should be implemented to promote the rapid development of the region.