In order to establish a benign operation mechanism and improve the service guarantee capacity of the irrigation area, the modern construction project of Dujiangyan Irrigation Area has been put forward, in which emerging information technologies such as the IoT, cloud computing and big data were adopted to build "one platform, two centers, and three systems" for achieving the overall goal of comprehensive perception and presentation of data information about the Dujiangyan Irrigation Area, efficient management of water resources, scientific scheduling for flood control, standardized operation of projects, online business collaboration, and guaranteed safety and reliability, thus creating the world-class leading "Smart Dujiangyan Irrigation Area" that pilots the demonstrative modernization of irrigation areas across China.
Founded in 256 B.C., the Dujiangyan Irrigation System has been operated for more than 2,270 years, and it is well-known at home and abroad for its long history, tremendous irrigation scale, and remarkable benefits.For now, the old and new problems that exist in the Dujiangyan irrigation area, as well as the frequent occurrence of flood and drought disasters, shortage of water resources, water ecological damage, and water environment pollution, seriously restrict regional economic and social development. Promoting water conservation in the irrigation area, maximizing the use of water resources in the irrigation area, and promoting the refined, intelligent transformation of the irrigation area become the major challenges in the current digitization process of the irrigation area.
The water conservancy informatization of the Dujiangyan irrigation area is a key project of the modernization of national irrigation areas, which realizes the refined management of irrigation areas by gathering big data, building large systems, and providing great services. Designed with "one platform (big data integrated platform), two centers (competence center and command and dispatch center), and three systems (IoT infection control system, business application system, and environmental protection system)", the project fully supports the modern application of the irrigation area through "front-end integration, data assetization, service valuation, management and control visualization, and display modernization".
Through the construction of the water conservancy informatization project in the Dujiangyan irrigation area, a large basic platform is built for the construction of smart water conservancy in Sichuan Province, and an intelligent foundation is laid for future business planning and construction, thus continuously improving the high-quality development of water conservancy in Sichuan Province.
(1) The ability is enhanced to intensify and share resources. Through the construction of the water conservancy informatization project in the Dujiangyan irrigation area, the resources for water conservancy informatization in the whole province are integrated into one map, one platform, and one data center, which effectively reduces the expenses incurred by each business unit in independent construction and self O&M, reducing more than 30% of duplicative investments and O&M costs, and saving government financial funds to the greatest extent.
(2) Major breakthroughs have been made in digital transformation. Through the construction of the water conservancy informatization project in the Dujiangyan irrigation area, more than 75% of the services of the Dujiangyan Water Conservancy Development Center in Sichuan Province have been operated online, reducing plenty of repetitive manual work and increasing labor efficiency by 20%. The irrigation area management has been completely digitized, giving full play to the project network to enable the "display, management, and processing of all information on just one map".
(3) Rapid and efficient allocation of water resources. Through the construction of the water conservancy informatization project in the Dujiangyan irrigation area, the intelligent control function for water distribution within the whole canal system suitable for the Dujiangyan irrigation area is planned, and now the flow range of canal systems at all levels in the Dujiangyan irrigation area varies between 79% and 96% of the design flow, reducing the time frame for the water distribution plan by 20% and the water distribution time by 1 day on average, which basically ensures the large flow and short duration requirements for the main canal water distribution. At the same time, scientific and effective data support is provided for accurate facility measurement for the rational allocation of water resources in the irrigation area, formulation of a reasonable water price, implementation of tiered water pricing, and comprehensive reform of agricultural water price, which greatly supports the sustainable development of the irrigation area.
(4) Give full play to the economic benefits of water conservancy projects and enhance the ability of scientific scheduling and supervision. Through the application of big data, algorithms, and business analysis, the comprehensive laws of water conservancy and society have been further understood to comprehensively improve the pertinence and effectiveness of flood prevention, drought control, and water resources scheduling in the irrigation area, enhance the analysis, prediction, and early warning capabilities of water-related issues, improve the ability of water conservancy supervision, increase the accuracy, scientificity, and timeliness of water conservancy decision-making, and give full play to the long-term economic benefits of engineering measures.