BEIJING — China's eastern province of Shandong is expected to receive 670 million cubic meters of water from the mighty Yangtze River via the country's massive water diversion project.

With a length of 1,467 km, the first phase of the eastern route of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project transfers water from the country's longest river in the south to Shandong, utilizing canals and pump stations.

Its water transfer work for 2020-2021 began on Dec 23 and is scheduled for completion before the end of May next year, according to the China Eastern Route Corporation of South-to-North Water Diversion.

It is the eighth year Shandong has received water from the eastern route of the water diversion project. Over the last seven years, Shandong has received a total of 4.62 billion cubic meters of water, benefiting approximately 65 million people.

The South-to-North Water Diversion Project is the largest of its kind globally and aims to transfer water from the Yangtze River in southern China to the country's dry northern areas in an effort to rebalance the uneven distribution of water resources.

The eastern route began operations in November 2013, transferring water from East China's Jiangsu province to regions including Tianjin and Shandong.

The middle route, the most prominent of the three due to its role of feeding water to the nation's capital, has diverted 34.8 billion cubic meters of water to arid northern areas.

The western route is in the planning stage and is yet to be built.