The Gansu Provincial Water Resources Bureau has reported that the first stage construction of a water diversion project was completed at the end of last December. The project has already begun transferring water from Tao River, a branch of Yellow River, to central Gansu province where water is scarce.

The first stage project started eight years ago, with 5 million yuan ($500,000) of investment, and subsequent stages hope to bring water to seven counties in Gansu, benefiting more than 1.5 million people and irrigating around 1.27 hectares. The main canal is 110 km long and including 18 tunnels. More than 237 million cubic meters of water is expected to be transferred throughout the project.

The project is by far the biggest water diversion project in Gansu, and was built on complex geographical terrain. The diversion passes through three watersheds in Northwest China, the Tao River, Wei River and Zuli River, with additional water sources in the Jiudianxia Reservoir in Gansu province.

The benefited counties and district include: Anding district, Longxi, Tongwei, Weiyuan, Lintao, Huining and Yuzhong couties.

Source: China Daily