3 routes of South-North Water Transfer Project

China's South-North Water Transfer Project aims to better distribute water resources throughout the country. The amount of rainfall in northern China is only a quarter of the amount of rainfall in southern China. The project aims to divert water from the Yangtze River in the South to the Yellow River in the north.

The South-North Water Transfer Project officially started on December 27th, 2002. It involves diverting water along three routes, a western, a middle and an eastern route.

The eastern route is at the most advanced stage of construction. It consists primarily of an upgrade to the Grand Canal. Water from the Yangtze River will be drawn into the canal in Jiangsu, and from there will flow to Tianjin and Shandong.

The middle route runs from Danjiangkou Reservoir in the downstream of the Yangtze River, and flows north to Beijing. This route is built on the North China Plain. Once the Yellow River has been crossed, the water will flow all the way to Beijing.

The western route, called the Big Western Line, aims to divert water from the headwaters of the Yangtze River into the headwaters of the Yellow River. It will help ease water shortages in China's northwest.

The whole project spans nearly 5-thousand-six-hundred kilometers in length. It's the biggest water transfer project in the world and is projected to take between 40 and 50 years to complete.

It's designed to transfer an annual 44.8 billion cubic meters of water. That's roughly equivalent to building another Yellow River in China's north.