BEIJING — Beijing has received 3 billion cubic meters of diverted water from the Yangtze River as of Dec 19, according to the diversion project office in the capital.

More than 11 million residents, or about half of the city’s total population, have benefited from the project, the largest of its kind in the world.

Since the south-to-north water diversion project began operation in December 2014, more than 1 billion cubic meters of water, diverted through an over 1,400-km-long canal, was consumed in Beijing every year on average.

About 2 billion cubic meters of water, or 70 percent of the total received volume, has been used by water supply companies, while the rest is stored in reservoirs, rivers and lakes.

The diverted water has not only increased Beijing’s water volume, but also improved its water supply and distribution, according to Sun Guosheng, head of the Beijing office.

Before the diversion began, Beijing’s water sources were mainly underground and susceptible to calcium and magnesium salts.

The middle route of the south-to-north water diversion project carries water through canals and pipes from the Danjiangkou reservoir in Central China’s Hubei province to the provinces of Henan and Hebei, as well as the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin.