China has transferred 10 billion cubic meters of fresh water from the country's south to its drought-prone north in the few years since a massive water diversion project came onstream. Authorities yesterday said that in recent decades, water supplies in north have been challenged by protracted droughts, a surging population, agriculture, and unprecedented manufacturing growth. <br/><br/>China's objective is to supply 44.8 billion cubic meters annually to the north via. the ambitious water diversion project. That would be about seven percent of the volume of water consumed by the entire country in 2015. The expensive engineering project, which involves transferring water from the south via three major routes, was first contemplated as early as the 1950s. <br/><br/>Along the middle route, the water pumped from the Yangtze River has gone to Beijing, Tianjin and the provinces of Henan and Hebei, according to the South-to-North Water Diversion Office under the State Council, or Cabinet. The middle route carries water through canals, water highways and pipelines from Danjiangkou reservoir in central Hubei Province. <br/><br/>It became operational in 2014. The project has supplied 2.7 billion cubic meters of water to Beijing for 11 million people. Presently, about 70 percent of Beijing's water supply comes from the project. <br/><br/>Tianjin was supplied 2.2 billion cubic meters of water while Henan and Hebei had 3.5 billion cubic meters and 1.1 billion cubic meters. China's objective is to restrict national annual water consumption below 670 billion cubic metres by 2020, as part of efforts to ease chronic regional deficit by decreasing waste and enhancing efficiency.