Arnon Rosenbaum, CEO of Dayu Equipment Development Group, attended the International Symposium on Water Culture and shared his experience with the “From Water Management to Data Management” project.
Release time：
2026-09-20 13:47
Recently, from September 15 to 18, the Sixth International Symposium on Water Culture (ISWC) was held in Xinjiang. Arnon Rosenbaum, CEO of the Equipment Development Group under the Dayu Group, was invited to attend the conference. and delivered a keynote address titled “From Water Management to Data Management” at the sub‑venue on building new frontiers in agricultural water conservation and efficiency, as well as on the protection of karez systems in the new era.
This year’s ISWC is hosted by Co-organized by the Chinese Academy of Water Sciences, the Karez Research Association of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the UNESCO East Asia Regional Office. The event was guided by the Water Resources Department of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the People’s Government of Turpan City, and co-organized by the National Key Laboratory of River Basin Water Cycle and Water Security, the China National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, the International Centre for Sediment Research and Training, the Turpan Municipal Water Resources Bureau, and the Turpan Municipal Institute of Water Sciences. With the theme “The Silk Road’s Waterways: Benefiting Past and Present—Inheriting and Innovating Water-Saving Wisdom in Arid Regions,” it brought together participants to exchange ideas and engage in discussions on pressing issues of global concern, such as the preservation, transmission, and sustainable utilization of water culture and water wisdom in arid regions.
President of the China Institute of Water Resources Wang Jianhua , Director and Representative of the UNESCO East Asia Regional Office Xia Zehan , First-Level Inspector at the General Office of the Ministry of Water Resources of China Li Xiaolin , Assistant Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in China Xu Ming , Party Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Water Resources Department of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Zhang Qiang , Secretary of the Turpan Municipal Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Wen Tianping Opening Address by the Director-General of the Rural Water Conservancy and Hydropower Department Ni Wenjin , Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation and Science & Technology Xu Jing , Deputy Director of the Public Education Center of the Ministry of Water Resources Meng Hui Attended the opening ceremony, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Water Sciences. Jiang Yunzhong Preside over the opening ceremony. Scholarly representatives from government agencies, research institutions, universities, and international organizations in nearly 30 countries across Europe, the Americas, Oceania, Africa, and Asia attended the conference.
“The challenges facing agriculture in arid regions extend beyond water scarcity to include outdated water-management practices. In traditional irrigation districts, it is common to encounter difficulties in accurately measuring water volumes, limited visibility into water delivery and distribution, severe waste due to large-scale, inefficient flood irrigation, decision-making that relies heavily on experience, and high labor inputs for operation and maintenance.” Using projects such as the one in Yuanmou, Yunnan, Arnon Rosenbaum went on to explain… How has Dayu Water Saving transitioned from “managing infrastructure” to “using data to manage irrigation systems,” leveraging digital technologies to integrate water sources, water conveyance and distribution, on‑field drip irrigation, and irrigation decision‑making? This transformation enables a shift from experience‑based to data‑driven decision‑making, from manual operations to automated control, and from managing individual facilities to end‑to‑end lifecycle management.
Three-Network Convergence, Six-Step Closed Loop:
Enable the irrigation system to be measurable, visible, controllable, and optimizable.
The presentation introduces the Yuanmou project, which centers on a six-step closed-loop process—“measurement–connection–visualization–analysis–control–improvement”—to build an integrated system of three networks: the water network, the information network, and the service network. The water network encompasses measurement, water transmission and distribution, and automated control; the information network aggregates real-time field data, conducts monitoring and analysis, and provides early warning; and the service network supports operations, agronomic practices, technical support, and customer service. Through a 114,000-mu efficient water‑saving irrigation monitoring system in Yuanmou County, the project enables online monitoring and scheduling of key parameters such as water volume, pressure, flow rate, valve status, and soil moisture, thereby establishing a closed-loop management framework of “measurement–decision–execution–verification–improvement.” Arnon Rosenbaum emphasized that value arises from the deep integration of infrastructure, data, and operations, rather than from the isolated stacking of technologies.
Balancing effectiveness with prerequisites:
Digital irrigation must return to the essence of operations.
According to the presentation, the Yuanmou project has achieved annual water savings of more than 40%, increased the effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water from 0.5 to 0.9, raised the irrigation water supply reliability from 75% to over 90%, and boosted average yields by 26.6%. Arnon Rosenbaum stated that improved visibility and control enable irrigation districts to enhance service reliability and agricultural output while reducing water consumption. At the same time, the successful implementation of digital irrigation still hinges on five key conditions: a stable and reliable communication network in remote mountainous areas; adequate upfront investment in infrastructure and metering‑control equipment; a dedicated, long‑term operations and maintenance team with specialized expertise; accurate, reliable, and representative field‑monitoring data; and sustained monitoring of operational performance coupled with continuous optimization. The cornerstone of success lies in operations and maintenance—digital irrigation is not merely about installing equipment, but rather a comprehensive management system that requires ongoing operation and iterative refinement. Only when infrastructure, data quality, governance accountability, and user engagement mechanisms work in concert can technology truly deliver value.
Linking to the New Era Karez System,
The Yuanmou experience offers valuable insights.
In line with the sub‑venue’s theme, “Karez Wells in the New Era,” Arnon Rosenbaum’s recommendations—such as starting from the problem, prioritizing measurement, establishing end‑to‑end connectivity from water source to field, assigning accountability to specific individuals, evaluating outcomes based on tangible results, and factoring post‑construction operation and maintenance into the design phase—offer valuable guidance for the conservation and sustainable use of irrigation‑engineering heritage in arid regions, as well as for the development of karez systems in the new era. He emphasized that digital tools serve as instruments to support operational management, rather than substitutes for managerial responsibility. The Yuanmou case study demonstrates that, The goal of digital irrigation is not merely to collect more data, but to leverage that data to inform more scientifically grounded water‑resource management and irrigation decisions, thereby ensuring the efficient use of limited water resources and delivering more stable, reliable irrigation services to farmers.
Looking ahead, Dayu Water Saving will continue to collaborate with domestic and international partners to promote water conservation and efficiency in agriculture, modernize irrigation districts, and advance sustainable global water resource management, thereby contributing the “Dayu Solution” to help arid regions worldwide address climate change and water‑resource challenges.
International Symposium on Water Culture It is an academic exchange event in the field of water culture, initiated by the Chinese Academy of Water Sciences and co‑hosted with the UNESCO East Asia Regional Office. Since 2021, it has been held continuously for six sessions, establishing itself as a globally influential brand of scholarly dialogue on water culture. The successful convening of this conference represents a concrete implementation of Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture and his important expositions on water governance, and constitutes a pragmatic step to actively advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. Moving forward, the conference will further promote global exchanges and cooperation in the realm of water culture, showcasing China’s strategic commitment—under the new era—to shaping the spirit of its water sector through culture and grounding it in civilization, thereby injecting fresh momentum into the joint development and shared benefits of global water culture and the harmonious coexistence of humanity and water. 。
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