Reengineering and Its Reliability: An Analysis of Water Projects and Watershed Management under a Digital Twin Scheme in China

Abstract

Water project and watershed management is currently being reengineered under digital twin schemes in China through pilot projects. An evaluation on pilot reengineering is important for its further implementation and improvement. This paper investigates national legislation and pilot projects’ implementations of a digital twin watershed and digital twin water project from the perspectives of design, policy, technology, investment, personnel, cyberspace security, co-construction, and sharing through interviews and expert review, and it uses a Bayesian network to study their reliability. First, the design of the digital twin watershed and digital twin water project is reasonable with regard to system architecture and business management. Second, although there are some national legislations on cyberspace security and geospatial data, they are incomplete for policy making and are probably infeasible for some technology. Third, there are insufficient mechanisms to sustainably support investment, personnel, and cyberspace security. Forth, co-construction and sharing are required for both inside and outside water departments. Fifth, the Bayesian network is useful for investigating the reliability of weak nodes, and it is helpful for the design and further implementation of the digital twin watershed and digital twin water project, as will be demonstrated with an anonymous example. This study could provide useful insights into the further reengineering of water projects and watershed management under a digital twin scheme in the world.