China's water diversion project promotes green development

ZHENGZHOU - Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Thursday inspected the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in the city of Nanyang in Central China's Henan province.

On Thursday afternoon, he went to the county of Xichuan, where he inspected the Taocha Canal Head, Danjiangkou Reservoir and village of Zouzhuang. Xi listened to the introductions of the construction, management and operation of the middle route of the water diversion project and the ecological conservation of the water source region.

When the water started to gush north through the middle route in December 2014, Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, described the South-to-North Water Diversion Project as an important strategic infrastructure to optimize water resources, boost sustainable economic and social development and improve people's livelihoods.

Six years on, the middle route of the water diversion project, which takes water from Danjiangkou in the middle reaches of the Yangtze, to feed the arid north including Beijing, Tianjin, and the provinces of Henan and Hebei, has proved to be a reliable "lifeline" for water supplies in the recipient regions.

As of March, the mega water project had transferred over 40.8 billion cubic meters of water to the northern areas. More than 130 million people had directly benefited from the project since the first phase of its eastern and middle routes began supplying water.

More than 40 big and medium-sized cities received water from the project, which has also helped ecological restoration of rivers and lakes along its eastern and middle routes.