On May 30, 2025, NHRI organized a kick-off and implementation scheme demonstration meeting for Key Technologies Research and Demonstration for Water Quality Safety Assurance in the Danjiangkou Reservoir and Upper Reaches Basin" (Project No.: 2024YFC3211100), a key special integrated project for the Water Resources and Water Environment Comprehensive Management in Key River Basins (e.g., the Yangtze and Yellow River Basins), under a National Key R&D Program, in Nanjing. Over 50 participants, including responsible persons from Department of International Cooperation, Science and Technology, Department of Water Resources Management, and Department of South-to-North Water Diversion Project Management of MWR and the Administrative Center for China's Agenda 21, project leads, research teams, partners and advisors, attended the meeting.

The project invited 15 experts, including HU Ya'an, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Researcher YANG Guishan, to form an expert advisory panel, and officially issued them the Letters of Appointment. The panel listened to reports by the project leader and principal investigators on the implementation scheme, carried out thorough discussions on the scientificity, innovativeness, rationality, and feasibility of the scheme, and provided specific opinions and suggestions for improvement. The implementation scheme was approved after review.

Focusing on the water quality safety assurance of the Danjiangkou Reservoir and its upper reaches basin, and adopting an overall approach of "mechanism analysis, R&D of the ‘Four-Preparedness’ (prediction, early warning, simulation drill and contingency plan) system, non-point source regulation, and demonstration and application", the project aims to reveal the pollutant generation and transport patterns in the upper reaches basin of the Danjiangkou Reservoir and the Reservoir's water quality response mechanisms, construct a model for typical pollutant generation and transport in a water source area, establish a technical system of “prediction, early warning, simulation drill and contingency plan” for risk source pollution incidents, develop multi-scenario ecological regulation technology modes for non-point source pollution in typical basins and conduct comprehensive demonstrations. In addition, the project will build and operate an intelligent decision-making platform for water quality risk early warning and response in water source areas.

The project is led by NHRI, in collaboration with Hohai University, Xi'an University of Technology, Southeast University, Hubei Provincial Hydrology and Water Resources Center, and the Hanjiang Water Resources & Hydropower (Group) Co., Ltd., with an implementation span of three years. The project will provide critical scientific and technological support for ensuring water quality safety in the Danjiangkou water source area, to contribute to the goal of "a perennial flow of clean water northward".