Progress,key issues,and countermeasures for construction of digital twin water conservancy

YE Yuntao; JIANG Yunzhong; KOU Huaizhong

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1000-1123.2026.05.006

Abstract：Against the backdrop of global climate change and rapid economic and social development,China's water security situation has become increasingly complex and severe,with traditional water governance models facing significant challenges in foresight,response speed,and decision-making scientificity.As an advanced paradigm for intelligent interaction between the physical and information worlds,digital twin technology presents a historic opportunity for modernizing the water governance system.This paper systematically reviewed the remarkable progress in China's digital twin water conservancy in areas such as top-level design,data modeling,and typical applications.It conducted an in-depth analysis of four major categories of issues exposed during the advancement of digital twin water conservancy,including management disconnects,technical shortcomings,institutional gaps,and security risks.To address these issues,the paper proposed a systematic countermeasure framework encompassing four dimensions,including management optimization,technological breakthroughs,institutional innovation,and security safeguards,based on the principles of"demand drive,application first,digital intelligence empowerment,and capability enhancement".Numerous practices have shown that it is necessary to follow the laws of water science development and software engineering construction,adhere to business drive,system drive,continuous iteration,and safe controllability,and deeply integrate technological empowerment with the reconstruction of water conservancy governance system,so as to promote the substantial leap of digital twin water conservancy from"having"to"being useful and effective",ensure the stable and far-reaching development of digital twin water conservancy.