Historical records show that before the founding of the People"s Republic of China in 1949, the river"s lower reaches experienced more than 1,500 dyke breaches and overflows and changed course 26 times. Sediment was a persistent challenge, giving rise to the old saying that half of a bowl of Yellow River water is sand.

　　Wei Xiangyang, the commission"s chief engineer, outlined progress in flood control, a central part of river management.

　　Dykes built to withstand major floods now stretch 1,371 km in total along the lower reaches. Forty flood-control reservoirs on the river and its tributaries have a combined flood-control capacity of 19 billion cubic meters.

　　Over the past eight decades, these infrastructure projects have helped avoid an estimated 10.09 trillion yuan (around 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars) in economic losses from floods, Wei said.

　　Efforts to curb soil erosion have also produced substantial results. Zhu Xiaoyong, director of the commission"s soil and water conservation bureau, presented data showing that 290,500 square km of land affected by soil erosion across the river basin have been rehabilitated. Soil and water conservation measures have kept about 24.7 billion tonnes of sediment from entering the river.

　　The Yellow River spans multiple regions and forms an integrated ecosystem that requires coordinated cross-regional management.

　　"After years of research, we have developed a reservoir operation approach that stores clean water while discharging sediment," said Zhang Jinliang, chief scientist of Yellow River Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd. "Precision water-sediment regulation marks a shift from passive response to proactive action in managing the river."