The middle route of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project has cumulatively transferred over 80 billion cubic meters of water to drier northern regions in 12 years since it became operational, the project's operator, China South-to-North Water Diversion Corporation, said on Friday.

Starting from the Danjiangkou Reservoir on the Hanjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, in Hubei Province of central China, the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project runs 1,232 kilometers through Henan and Hebei to Beijing and Tianjin.

The diverted water has benefited about 118 million people across Henan, Hebei, Tianjin and Beijing, serving 243 county-level regions in 27 major and medium-sized cities along its route.

Since the water first began flowing through the canal, the project has played a critical role in optimizing the allocation of water resources, ensuring safe drinking water for residents, restoring the ecological health of rivers and lakes, and facilitating economic circulation between southern and northern China, the operator said.