South-to-North Water Diversion middle line completed

China's South-to-North Water Diversion project has made a significant step-- the completion of the massive project's middle line.

The 1,400 kilometer-plus middle line originates from the DanJiangkou Reservior in Henan province, and heads north paralleling the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, eventually ending near Beijing and Tianjin.

The middle line project kicked off in 2003 with an investment of over 200 billion yuan. Once the project is operational, it will divert as much as 9.5 billion cubic metres of water to arid regions in northern China, including Beijing and Tianjin, effectively soothing water shortages there.