Water diversion project benefits China's Tianjin

TIANJIN -- China's south-to-north water diversion project has benefited more than 10 million residents in the northern Tianjin municipality, local authorities said.

The middle route of the project pumped more than 5.6 billion cubic meters of water into Tianjin in about six years, according to the Tianjin branch of the Construction and Administration Bureau of South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route Project.

Since December 2014, the project has continuously provided quality water to Tianjin, and the water from the south has become a major water source for the municipality, according to the branch.

The water diversion project carries 9.5 billion cubic meters of water each year through canals and pipes from the Danjiangkou reservoir in Central China's Hubei province to the provinces of Henan and Hebei, as well as Tianjin and Beijing.

The project was conceived by Mao Zedong in 1952. The State Council approved the project in December 2002 after nearly half a century of debate.