A clear stream of water moistens every household

On the morning of December 12th, the State Council Information Office held a press conference to announce the 10th anniversary of the full water supply of the first phase of the South to North Water Diversion East Middle Route project. As of today, the project has transferred over 76.7 billion cubic meters of water. The South to North Water Diversion Project is a major decision made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council in response to the scarcity of water resources in China and the uneven distribution of time and space. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, with the official opening of the first phase of the South to North Water Diversion Project, the vast water receiving areas have been refreshed in optimizing water resource allocation, ensuring the safety of drinking water for the masses, reviving river and lake ecosystems, and promoting smooth economic circulation between the north and south

Accompanied by a deafening roar, at 14:32 on December 12, 2014, the gate of the Taocha Canal Head Hub Project located in Xichuan County, Henan Province was opened, and a jade belt extended northward. Thus, the first phase of the South to North Water Diversion Project officially opened

On November 15, 2013, prior to the first phase of the Middle Route Project, the first phase of the South to North Water Diversion East Route officially began water supply

Wang Yisen, Deputy Director of the Expert Committee of the South to North Water Diversion Project: "The first phase of the East Route Project is 1467 kilometers long, starting from the Jiangdu Water Conservancy Hub near Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, and passing through 13 cascade pumping stations, all the way to the Jiaodong Peninsula and all the way to Hebei and Tianjin." General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly pointed out that the South to North Water Diversion Project, which spans the four major river basins of the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Huai River, and Haihe River, is a national event, a century project, and a people's project. As of December 12, 2024, the first phase of the East Middle Route of the South to North Water Diversion Project has transferred over 76.7 billion cubic meters of water

Wang Yisen: "The total amount of water resources in the Yellow River, Huaihe River and Haihe River basins in our country is about 7% of the national total, but it needs to bear 32% of the national population, 39% of the cultivated land and 35% of the gross national product (GDP), so there is a serious mismatch between the amount of water resources and social and economic development. How can this situation be resolved? There must be a cross basin water transfer project

Xuchang, Henan was once one of the 40 severely water deficient cities in China. In the 1980s, the per capita share of water resources in Xuchang was less than half of that in Henan Province and only one tenth of that in China

If there is not enough river water, we can only rely on groundwater, and long-term overexploitation of groundwater brings problems such as water level decline and deterioration of water quality

After the first phase of the South to North Water Diversion Project officially opened on December 12, 2014, Xuchang's annual water allocation reached 226 million cubic meters, and the Xuchang people, who were plagued by water shortage, bid farewell to the difficulty of water supply

Nowadays, Xuchang has transformed from a city of thirst to a city of rippling waters

At the same time, the first phase of the East Middle Route of the South to North Water Diversion Project has radiated clean water sources to seven provinces and cities in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Anhui from south to north

Li Lixing, 59 years old, from Tietie Village, Jianqiao Township, Fucheng County, Hebei Province, has developed fluorosis early on due to drinking groundwater containing excessive fluoride since childhood

Suffering from fluorosis not only damages the teeth, but also makes some villagers laugh at them when they go out

With the operation of the South to North Water Diversion Project in Fucheng County, the villagers of Tietie Village bid farewell to high fluoride water. Zhang Lixing works at a primary school in the village, and whenever he sees the children's white teeth, he is both excited and relieved

Nowadays, the first phase of the East Middle Route of the South to North Water Diversion Project is providing stable and high-quality water sources for 45 large and medium-sized cities along the route, with a population of over 185 million. The South to North Water Diversion Project accounts for nearly 80% of the water supply in the urban area of Beijing, and the water supply in the main urban area of Tianjin is mainly from the South to North Water Diversion Project. However, these stable and high-quality water sources are obtained through a large amount of human and financial investment

Yan Danzhen, an engineer at the Emergency Monitoring Center for Ecological Environment at the Head of the South to North Water Diversion Project in Henan Province, is responsible for monitoring the water quality of the Danjiangkou Reservoir. His colleagues come from various places, and he is a local immigrant from the Danjiangkou Reservoir area

The number of immigrants in Danjiangkou Reservoir has reached 345000, and many touching stories have happened here. Thirteen years ago, a teacher named Wang Pinlan in Xichuan County gave her students their last lesson before parting, filled with reluctance and longing to leave their homeland. But today, at the new podium hundreds of kilometers away, whenever she tells her students about her experiences, she has no regrets about her departure

Hu Xiaomeng was only nine years old when she left her hometown, and now she is a college student. What excited her was that the water from the South to North Water Diversion Project had reached the city of Nanyang where she studied, and she was able to drink water from her hometown again

Hu Xiaomeng's new home is located in Huixian County, Xinxiang, Henan Province. The people here not only drink water from the South to North Water Diversion Project, but also witness the unique landscape of hundreds of springs gushing back after years of drought

In Weihui, Henan Province, adjacent to Huixian County, farmers used to plant corn with less water consumption after harvesting wheat. However, with the rise of groundwater levels, some dry land has become paddy fields, and some farmers have started growing rice since then

This is a steel enterprise located in Handan, Hebei Province. Every year, over 2 million tons of water from the South to North Water Diversion Project are input into the factory area, and the enterprise outputs nearly one million tons of high-quality products

Since the first phase of the East Middle Route of the South to North Water Diversion Project was completed, as a lifeline for smooth economic circulation between the north and south, its role in promoting coordinated cooperation between the water source area and the water receiving area, and promoting common prosperity in the north and south regions has also been fully utilized

Yuan Qitian, Deputy Director of the South to North Water Diversion Department of the Ministry of Water Resources, said: "After 50 years of planning and demonstration, and more than ten years of construction, the South to North Water Diversion Project has initially established a water network pattern of north-south allocation and east-west mutual assistance in China, becoming the lifeline for optimizing water resource allocation, ensuring the safety of drinking water for the people, restoring the ecological environment of the Su River and lakes, and smoothing the north-south economic cycle." Currently, the construction of the Middle Route Diversion Project is accelerating. After completion, the Three Gorges Reservoir will be connected to the Danjiangkou Reservoir, and the water source of the South to North Water Diversion Center will be more guaranteed. At the same time, the preliminary work of the follow-up projects of the East Route and the first phase of the West Route Project is also being promoted. In the end, the South to North Water Diversion Project will form three water diversion routes from the lower, middle, and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, namely the east, middle, and west routes, and initially construct the overall pattern of China's national water network of "four horizontal and three vertical, north-south allocation, and east-west mutual assistance"