(Yicai) Dec. 12 -- China's investment in the construction of water conservancy projects in January to November exceeded the amount spent in the whole of last year, according to official figures.

Investment in water conservation jumped 8.5 percent to CNY1.09 trillion (USD152 billion) in the 11 months ended Nov. 30 from a year earlier, with the funds mainly used in four fields, Zhang Xiangwei, head of the planning and programming department, said today.

CNY293.8 billion (USD41 billion) went on flood control engineering systems, including projects in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, the Huai River estuary, and flood storage and detention basins on the Yangtze River, Huai River, and Haihe River, Zhang noted. The funds were also used for managing small and mid-sized rivers, mountain flood prevention and control, and reinforcing reservoirs, Zhang noted.

The construction of major water transfer and water source projects for the national water system had total investment of CNY514.8 billion (USD2.1 billion). These included water transfer projects in Guangdong province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and other places, building large reservoirs in Zhejiang province, Inner Mongolia, and Guizhou province, and rural water-supply projects.

Around CNY192.1 billion was spent on recovering the ecological environment of lakes and rivers, including important river and lake water ecological repair and management projects in Mulan Creek in Fujian province and Lake Chagan in Jilin province, conservation of water and soil, and comprehensive management of areas where groundwater was over-exploited, Zhang pointed out.

CNY93.1 billion (USD13 billion) was used on hydrological infrastructure and smart water conservancy, including building a system to monitor and forecast rainfall and hydrological conditions and repairing and maintaining water conservancy facilities.

Editors: Shi Yi, Martin Kadiev