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SINGAPORE: For the first time, a project from Asia has won the third Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize. The Yellow River Conservancy Commission beat 50 other nominees to the award.
They won for innovative river management initiatives and policies for China's second longest river.
Historically, frequent floods and droughts threatened the livelihoods of communities living along China's Yellow River.
In 1999, the Yellow River Conservancy Commission set out to change that.
Sun Feng, director, International Cooperation, Yellow River Conservancy Commission, said: "Entering the 1990s considering urbanism and industrialisation, agricultural uses and domestic demands increased water demand along the Yellow River. This means we have shortage of water and so we have to manage it well and balance all the interests along the Yellow River."
And they saw results in just ten years.
The river sees 1.6 billion tonnes of sediments annually causing the river-bed to rise and water to overflow.
Through regular flushing of sediments, the commission was able to reduce the risk of flooding for 90 million people living downstream.
It was also able to supply water to 100 million people in nine provinces for domestic, industrial and agricultural use, all by creating over 10 reservoirs along a 3,000 kilometre stretch.
The commission also managed to restore biodiversity in the Yellow River delta.
Despite the achievements, challenges remain.
Mr Sun Feng said: "For many years, we have been trying to reduce the sediment through structural measure by planting vegetation. We have already reduced 300 million tones sediment into the flow but still we have a lot of sediment. We need to do more efforts in soil conversation work."
The Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize will be given out at the Singapore International Water Week on June 29. - CNA/vm
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