扼要总结了在1949至2000的50年间中国大陆取得的主要水利建设成就，分别从防洪、灌溉、供水、通航和水能利用等方面加以叙述，并反映到水利科学、技术、教育、管理方面的发展。分析了在取得成就的同时所发生的问题与缺点，探讨了近年来出现的一些新矛盾和新问题，主要有江河防洪标准仍然偏低，未形成可靠和完整的防洪体系；洪水位不断抬高，防汛负担与风险不断增加；水资源过度开发与严重浪费，水质广泛污染，水环境不断恶化以及水利工程配套不全，质量不高，管理粗放，经济效益低落等，并认为产生这些情况的主要因素是思想意识的片面和政策上应如何吸取教训，供决策层参考和全国人民思考。

In the first part of the paper, main achievements and progress in water conservancy construction of China over the past half century are briefly summarised in respect of flood-control, irrigation, water supply and hydroenergy utilization, which are also reflected in sci-tech, education and management. In the second part, while affirming the achievements, the problems and shortcomings are analyzed. They mainly include： the flood-control standard is still at low level and reliable and complete water-control systems have not been established; water level of floods are increasingly raising causing the increase of flood prevention burden and risks; overexploiting of water resources and serious waste of water; water contamination and water environment deterioration ;the incompleteness, low quality, extensive management and low economic results of water conservancy projects, and so on. The paper holds that these problems should be attributed to the one-sided ideology and improper policies. Finally, in line with the requirement of the development and rejuvenation of China, the paper forecasts the tasks and goals of water conservancy construction in the days to come.