BEIJING, Jan. 7 -- Around 2.9 million people have gained access to safe drinking water in the past 15 years thanks to the implementation of a national charity project.

The Mother's Water Cellar project, established by the All-China Women's Federation, was launched in 2000 to provide water storage cellars in western China's poor, dry areas.

During the past decade and a half, the scheme has raised money from enterprises, organizations and citizens, investing nearly 900 million yuan (136.3 million U.S.dollars) in building 139,000 water storage pits and over 1,600 small centralized water supply projects in 25 provinces and regions in the country.

The project has also helped to improve the sanitary conditions of drinking water in more than 530 primary and middle schools in rural areas.

China's western areas suffer some of the worst water shortages in the country because of poor natural and geographical conditions.

Before the project was launched, many farmers relied on poorly constructed water pits as they could not afford suitable materials, such as concrete.