Technical Visit

(October 22, 2008)

This Wednesday， delegates from the 16th IAHR-APD and 3rd IAHR-ISHS conference had the opportunity to visit two hydro-related technical sites around Nanjing. Guests departed in the afternoon and traveled via bus first to the Tiexinqiao Water Experiment Center of the Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute (NHRI).

The Tiexinqiao Water Experiment Center is located on the southern bank of the Qinhuai River and features more than 20 large-scale testing halls for hydropower, sedimentation, coastal engineering, navigation, and estuary training. The delegates were led through several of these grand testing halls by NHRI representatives, such as the Waterway Engineering Testing Hall, the Hydropower Testing Hall, and a Hydro-Lab State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering. A total of seven experiment halls, research centers and other exhibits were toured. Guests were able to witness first-hand some of the largest hydro-engineering projects in Nanjing and ask questions about the exhibits.

The second technical visit took the guests riverside to the Project of the Qinhuai River Ecological Restoration Project located at the Sancha Kou (where the Changjiang River meets the Qinhuai River). Here, delegates were able to see one of China's most unique, important and celebrated hydraulic engineering projects: the massive Sancha Kou sluice. The sluice, in operation since September 2005, features a special double-arch structure and measures a staggering 97 meters wide across the river, with each arch itself measuring 40 meters in diameter, and is critical for continued management, accessibility, and cleanliness of the Qinhuai River.

These two projects showed China's already-impressive and rising development of hydraulic engineering programs and research. As the guests returned back to their hotels, they were undoubtedly left with breathtaking impressions of Nanjing’s hydraulic engineering programs.