Xijiang river diversion project starts operation

A mega project diverting water from the Xijiang River in the western part of the Pearl River to the cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan in Guangdong province officially started operation on Saturday, further ensuring the water supply safety in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The Pearl River Delta Water Resources Allocation Project benefits more than 32 million people in the eastern part of Guangdong province, the country's most populous region, and it will provide emergency standby water for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Guangzhou's Panyu district, as well as Foshan's Shunde district, said a statement released by the Guangdong provincial department of water resources on Saturday.

Xijiang river is the major tributary of the Pearl River.

The water currently supplied to Hong Kong mainly comes from the Dongjiang River in the eastern part of the Pearl River.

Construction of the project — the largest water conservancy project in Guangdong and one of the top five water conservancy projects in the country, has been completed and a trial operation began in January, the statement said.

The project, which stretches 113 kilometers, will be able to annually divert more than 1.7 billion cubic meters of Xijiang River water from the Xingtan township in Foshan's Shunde district to the Dongjiang basin in Shenzhen's Guangming district, playing an important role in alleviating the pressure of drinking water shortages in Shenzhen and Dongguan, two major production bases in the country, it said.

Most of the major water pipes are built from 40 to 60 meters underground to protect the ecology and environment and minimize land consumption, it added.