BEIJING, Dec. 26 -- China has achieved zero growth in total water consumption since the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), even as the country's economic aggregate continued to reach new heights and grain output remained abundant.

The information was released on Friday at an award ceremony in Beijing for the first China Water Conservation Award, the country's highest honor in the field of water conservation.

Official data shows that water consumption per 10,000 yuan (about 1,421 U.S. dollars) of gross domestic product (GDP) and per 10,000 yuan of industrial value-added has dropped by 17.7 percent and 23.6 percent, respectively, compared to the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).

Meanwhile, the effective utilization coefficient of farmland irrigation water increased from 0.565 to 0.583, and the leakage rate of urban public water supply networks dropped to within 10 percent.

Despite these achievements, an official from the Ministry of Water Resources warned at the ceremony that China still faces severe water scarcity challenges during the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

The official urged integrating water-saving measures across all sectors of economic and social development as part of the country's green transformation.

With just 6 percent of the world's freshwater resources, China sustains nearly 20 percent of the global population and generates over 18 percent of global economic output, according to official data.

By the end of 2024, China had completed 95,000 reservoirs, 200 large- and medium-sized water diversion projects, 6,924 large- and medium-sized irrigation districts, and 318,000 kilometers of dikes, forming the world's largest and most comprehensive water conservancy infrastructure system.