The Optimization of Flood Control Man-Made Channel Systems in

Northwest Beijing: Responding to the Challenges of Climate Change

and Extreme Weather

Yanzhi Wen

Department of Earth Science & Environmental Change, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, U.S.A.

Keywords: Man-Made Channel Systems, Extreme Weather, Beijing.

Abstract: Northwest Beijing has frequently suffered from flooding in recent years, and the existing artificial aqueduct

system has certain limitations in flood prevention effect. Especially when heavy rainfall comes, the

precipitation often exceeds the carrying capacity of the existing drainage system, leading to serious

waterlogging and flooding disasters. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the optimization measures

of aqueduct design and management. Based on the field study, this paper analyzes the deficiencies of the

aqueduct system in the region in response to extreme weather events and proposes a plan to improve the

system's diversion and flood control capacity through design optimization, intelligent monitoring and early

warning, and natural ecological management from multiple perspectives. This paper shows that insufficient

redundancy in aqueduct design and poor maintenance are the main challenges, while intelligent management

and public participation mechanisms can help improve the system's responsiveness and adaptability. This

study provides new ideas for the design of urban hydraulic projects, especially to cope with floods, mudslides

and other disasters caused by climate change.

1 INTRODUCTION

Climate change has led to a high incidence of extreme

weather events, especially the increase in the

frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation

events, which has put tremendous pressure on the

infrastructure of major cities around the world.

Flooding has become one of the major challenges for

many cities, not only endangering the safety of

residents' lives and property, but also having a serious

impact on key urban functions such as transportation,

water supply, and electricity. According to the United

Nations, a large proportion of global flooding occurs

in urban areas, a risk that is further exacerbated by

climate change (Xuehai, 2024). Urbanization has

accelerated surface hardening and reduced the water

storage capacity of natural water systems, making

cities more vulnerable to flooding when faced with

extreme precipitation (Zhou, 2023). Therefore, how

to mitigate the impacts of flooding through effective

water resource management has become a key topic

of research.

https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6723-9708

Currently, there are various research methods for

coping with urban flooding, including Low Impact

Development (LID) techniques (UN-Habitat, 2022).

Monitoring and management of urban drainage

networks using remote sensing and Geographic

Information Systems (GIS) (Ding, 2014). Among

them, artificial aqueducts, as an important

infrastructure, have attracted much attention due to

their significant role in guiding urban runoff, rapid

drainage, and water storage and flood control.

This paper argues that aqueduct design

optimization and systematic management can

significantly improve the ability of cities to withstand

flooding, especially when dealing with extreme

precipitation events (Li, 2023).

This paper takes Northwest Beijing as the research

object, discusses the current situation and problems of

its existing artificial aqueduct system in flood

prevention and flood control, analyzes the optimized

design scheme, and provides effective solution ideas

for urban flood control management.

Wen, Y.

The Optimization of Flood Control Man-Made Channel Systems in Northwest Beijing: Responding to the Challenges of Climate Change and Extreme Weather.

DOI: 10.5220/0013337400004558

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Modern Logistics and Supply Chain Management (MLSCM 2024), pages 429-432

ISBN: 978-989-758-738-2

429

2 OVERVIEW ANALYSIS OF THE

STUDY AREA

2.1 Overview of Beijing's Geographic

Location and Flood Risk

Beijing is located in the north of the North China Plain

in northern China, at the junction of the eastern

Taihang Mountains and the southern Yanshan

Mountains. The overall topography of the city

gradually decreases from northwest to southeast, with

mostly mountains in the northwest and plains in the

southeast. Due to this geographic location, the

northwestern area of Beijing becomes a key area for

precipitation and flash flood convergence, while the

plains in the southeast are prone to waterlogging and

the formation of inland floods (Liu, 2015).

Northwestern Beijing, including Changping,

Yanqing, and Mentougou, has a complex topography

dominated by mountains and hills. The region is rich

in rivers and valleys and is prone to heavy

precipitation and flash floods during heavy rainfall.

Due to the steep terrain, heavy rainfall in the

northwestern mountainous areas is very likely to

converge into rapid flows and quickly pool into flash

floods, posing a greater threat of flooding to

downstream areas (Meteorological Bureau, 1990).

Beijing has a typical monsoon climate, with

precipitation mainly concentrated in the summer

months of July and August, accounting for about 70%

or more of the annual precipitation. In the

northwestern part of the country, precipitation is

relatively large due to the uplift effect of the terrain,

but it is unevenly distributed, and heavy rainfall

events are frequent, especially during heavy rainfall,

which can easily lead to flash floods and mudslides.

2.2 Distribution of Water Systems

Beijing's water system mainly includes the Yongding

River, Chaobai River and Wenyu River. The

Yongding River basin in the northwestern part of the

city is one of the most important water systems in

Beijing, but it is also susceptible to flash floods and

mudslides due to the fact that it flows through

mountainous and hilly areas. In addition, the

numerous small streams and valleys in the

northwestern region rapidly accumulate water during

rainfall, resulting in rapid flood confluence and high

flow rates, exacerbating the risk of flooding (Figure

1).

Figure 1: Map of water systems in northwestern

Beijing (Li, 2023).

This article will focus on why the existing man-

made aqueduct system in the Northwest Fifth Ring

Road of Beijing is not able to fully withstand flooding.

What are the main challenges in gutter design and

flood management?

3 DESIGN

From the design point of view of water conservancy

engineering, the main task of the artificial canal and

river system is to guide and control the stormwater

runoff in order to reduce the impact of flooding on the

city. In this paper, a field study was conducted to

observe the situation of rivers in northwest Beijing

(Qing River, Beisha River, Yongding River,

Yuanmingyuan River, Xijiao Line Drainage Canal,

and Zizhuyuan River). Artificial canals and river

systems fulfil their roles of diversion, diversion, flood

control, and water storage mainly through their

dimensions, layout structures, and drainage network

structures (Wang, 2011).

Traditional canal systems are often designed

based on historical rainfall data and lack

consideration for extreme weather events. The warm

semi-arid and semi-humid monsoon climate of

Beijing (with distinct dry and rainy seasons, long

duration of the rainy season, high cumulative rainfall,

strong winds, and obvious convective characteristics

with some extremes) requires a higher degree of

adaptability and flexibility in the design of the

aqueduct. For example, the cross-section of the drains

should be designed to accommodate stormwater

runoff of varying intensities with some redundancy

(adding additional drainage channels or structures) to

cope with extreme weather events (Ma, 2018).

MLSCM 2024 - International Conference on Modern Logistics and Supply Chain Management

430

With the complex topography of northwestern

Beijing, man-made drains need to be closely

connected to natural water systems and drainage pipes

to ensure that stormwater is quickly discharged to a

safe place. This requires full consideration of

geographical factors such as terrain elevation and

catchment paths in the layout of the drains.

4 SOLUTION ANALYSIS

Design and optimization: Dynamic simulation of the

aqueduct system is carried out using the SWMM

modelling tool, which can simulate the water storage

system or the aqueduct system under any scenario.

For example, if the average rainfall over a period of

time is set for an area of apartments, and the roof of

each apartment is covered with greenery, the

rainwater is stored for a certain period of time on the

roofs of the apartments in the greenery-covered areas,

and then flows into the apartment's aqueducts, then

into the city's aqueducts, and ultimately into the man-

made canals or rivers. This makes it easier to ensure

that the design of the distribution system is adaptable

to different rainfall scenarios.

In terms of natural ecological management, this

paper suggests the construction of small natural parks

next to man-made aqueducts and rivers to enhance the

filtering and storage of rainwater in aqueducts by

incorporating natural landscapes, such as wetlands

and vegetated buffer zones, which can improve flood

control and the urban environment. The

Yuanmingyuan and the Summer Palace are the most

successful cases in northwest Beijing, but their

specifications and costs are also huge. But if you just

build linear parks along the banks of rivers, they can

also serve the same purpose of water storage and

flood control.

From the point of view of management and

maintenance, man-made aqueducts and rivers require

not only rational design but also proper management

and maintenance. Many aqueducts were designed

with adequate drainage and water conveyance

capacity, but due to a lack of maintenance over a long

period of time, problems such as silt and garbage

accumulation have occurred, resulting in poor

drainage. As in the case of the river park proposed

above, the trees and vegetation inside the park will

drop a large number of leaves, twigs flowers, etc.

every year and these will seriously affect the proper

functioning of the drainage system. Therefore, it is

very important and meaningful to maintain the drains

and rivers regularly.

If not cleaned in time, the drains will fail at critical

moments and cause serious flooding. Also, smarter

management and maintenance models are essential.

Traditional management of drains relies on manual

inspections and regular maintenance, but with the

development of technology, IoT devices and sensor

networks can help to monitor the operation of drains

in real time, and identify blockages or points of failure

more quickly and with less effort.

4.1 Smart Monitoring and Early

Warning System

By installing smart sensors such as rotary slurry flow

meters and multi-parameter water quality analyzers to

monitor changes in water levels, flow rates and water

quality in drains, real-time flood risk warnings are

provided and automatic reminders are given to

maintain or activate drainage equipment. Such

systems can be integrated with meteorological

forecast data for advanced flood risk assessment.

Drawing on the public reporting system used by

Goldmind, mobile applications are used to engage

citizens in the management of drains, where citizens

can report blockages or breakages they find, which in

turn allows professionals to carry out maintenance

and repairs, improving the responsiveness of drains.

From a sustainability perspective, while

addressing flooding, the aqueduct system also needs

to consider sustainable development, especially the

long-term health of the urban environment and

ecosystems. Runoff during the rainy season in Beijing

is a potential water resource if it can be properly

collected and treated, the management and reuse of

precipitation resources, such as for urban power

generation, greening, landscape water and other areas.

This will not only alleviate the problem of urban

flooding but also improve the efficiency of water

resource utilization. Moreover, flood water often

carries a large number of pollutants (organic

pollutants, metals, chemical pollutants, and microbial

pathogens), which may affect the water quality of the

downstream water bodies after entering the aqueduct.

Therefore, the design of aqueduct systems should not

only consider drainage but also incorporate water

quality purification features (Bach, 2017).

4.2 Harvesting Rainwater for Reuse

By setting up rainwater collection ponds at suitable

locations in urban or suburban areas, the precipitation

from nearby areas (residential areas, roads and other

hardened areas) can be collected to the maximum

extent, and through filtration and sedimentation,

floating particles and larger pollutants can be

The Optimization of Flood Control Man-Made Channel Systems in Northwest Beijing: Responding to the Challenges of Climate Change

and Extreme Weather

431

removed, and then through sand filtration and

secondary sedimentation, the vast majority of

particles obtained can be removed, and then after that

chlorine disinfection or ultraviolet ray disinfection

can be used to kill the microorganisms and pathogens

in the water, and finally, the ph value is adjusted to a

usable range. The water can then be used for non-

potable water supplies such as irrigation, cleaning,

cooling water and toilet flushing.

Incorporating filtration layers and settling basins

directly into the man-made aqueduct system reduces

the chance of pollutants entering the natural water

body. This can be at the intersection of each aqueduct,

which is usually equipped with a sluice gate. A filter

layer that can be raised and lowered at the inlet can be

installed, consisting of a large barrage and gravel. It

can be ensured that the drains do not become clogged

with clumps or larger pollutants during any time,

resulting in the loss of unclogging. Natural biological

filtration can also be done using the river parks

mentioned above, where wetland plants, aquatic

organisms and other natural elements purify the water.

They absorb some of the nutrients in the runoff, such

as nitrogen and phosphorus, and convert these

potential pollutants into harmless biomass through

plant growth, thus reducing the risk of eutrophication

of the water body. It also stops the soil on both sides

of the aqueduct from being excessively washed into

the aqueduct by the water flow.

5 CONCLUSION

This paper discusses the limitations and challenges of

the existing artificial aqueduct system in flood

prevention and control by analyzing the geographic

characteristics, precipitation distribution, and water

system in northwest Beijing. By combining multiple

perspectives of hydraulic engineering design, system

maintenance and intelligent management, and natural

ecological management, it is found that although the

existing aqueduct system can prevent and control

flooding to a certain extent, it still suffers from

insufficient design redundancy and poor maintenance

in coping with extreme weather events.

In addition, the study points out that the flood

prevention and control capacity of the aqueduct

system can be effectively improved by using

modelling tools such as SWMM for dynamic

simulation, enhancing the flexibility of aqueduct

design, introducing intelligent monitoring systems

and public participation mechanisms, and natural

ecological management tools.

With the frequent occurrence of extreme climate

events, the design and management of man-made

aqueduct systems need to be further optimized to

better adapt to the flooding risks associated with

climate change. Meanwhile, this study not only

provides practical guidance for urban flood control in

Beijing but also provides a reference for the

construction of water conservancy projects and urban

management in other similar areas. The efficiency and

sustainability of urban water management systems

can be further enhanced in the future through more

interdisciplinary studies and field tests, leading to

higher ecological and social stability.

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