WUHAN, March 31 -- The middle route of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project has benefited more than 85 million people living in the provinces of Henan and Hebei, and in the Tianjin and Beijing municipalities, local authorities said.

As of 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, the project had transferred 55 billion cubic meters of water to the drought-prone north via the middle route, according to Changjiang Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources.

The country's South-to-North Water Diversion Project has three routes. The middle route, the most prominent one, starts at the Danjiangkou Reservoir in central China's Hubei Province and runs across Henan and Hebei before reaching Beijing and Tianjin. It began supplying water in December 2014.

The eastern route began operations in November 2013, transferring water from east China's Jiangsu Province to areas including Tianjin and Shandong. The western route is in the planning stage and is yet to be built.

The State Council approved the project in December 2002 after nearly half a century of debate. China will push forward the follow-up construction of the water diversion project in 2023 and accelerate the building of the national water network.