Beijing has received 1.9 billion cubic meters of water through the middle route of the south-to-north water diversion project, and the capital's major reservoir has preserved over 1.6 billion cubic meters of water, the most since 2000.
Since the middle route project, which starts at the Danjiangkou Reservoir in Central China's Hubei Province, began in December 2014, it has greatly preserved the capital's water supply. From November 2015 to October 2016, the capital received 1.1 cubic meters of water through the project, 5 percent higher than the projected amount, said the Beijing office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project on Wednesday.
Beijing's major water works have begun to process water from the south and the Miyun Reservoir, the capital's largest water source, preserved over 1.6 billion cubic meters of water, creating a new high, said the office, adding that the project has also effectively slowed the subsiding of the underground water level.
So far, more than 200 million cubic meters of "southern water" have been stored in Beijing's four reservoirs.
Liang Li, Beijing Waterworks Group spokesperson, said the capital supplies 2.7 million cubic meters of water to its residents a day in winter, 2 million of which come from the south, adding that water through the south-to-north diversion project has become Beijing's major source.
Over 70 percent of tap water supplied to downtown Beijing is "southern water," covering more than 11 million residents, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
It also said that about 6 billion cubic meters of water has been transferred to central and northern China as of November 26 through the project, benefiting 42 million people.
The water transfer project was conceived in 1952. The State Council approved the ambitious project in December 2002 after nearly half a century of deliberations. It is the world's largest such scheme, and comes at an estimated cost of 500 billion yuan ($77.4 billion).
