China's mega project diverts 60 bln cubic meters of water to dry north

Aerial photo taken on May 25, 2021 shows the Xiheishan hub on the middle route of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project. (Xinhua/Liu Shiping)

BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project had transferred over 60 billion cubic meters of water from major rivers in the south to the drought-prone north as of Sunday, official data showed.

This amount is greater than the average annual flow of the Yellow River, the country's second longest river, according to the China South-to-North Water Diversion Corporation Limited.

More than 150 million people have directly benefited from the massive project.

The country's South-to-North Water Diversion Project has three routes. The middle route, the most prominent one, starts at the Danjiangkou Reservoir in central China's Hubei Province and runs across Henan and Hebei before reaching Beijing and Tianjin. It began supplying water in December 2014.

The eastern route began operations in November 2013, transferring water from east China's Jiangsu Province to areas including Tianjin and Shandong. The western route is in the planning stage and is yet to be built.

China will push forward the follow-up construction of the water diversion project in 2023 and accelerate the building of the national water network, said Jiang Xuguang, chairman of the group.