BEIJING — As China is about to conclude a week-long campaign for urban water conservation, official data shows that the country has made great progress in saving water.

From 2000 to 2020, Chinese cities saved 97.2 billion cubic meters of water, nine times the quantity transferred annually through the middle route of the country's south-to-north water diversion project, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

By the end of last year, more than 40,000 projects had been implemented as part of efforts to build sponge cities, utilizing 350 million metric tons of rainwater annually.

Some 130 cities have become water-saving cities, with their total water consumption accounting for 58.5 percent of the country's total water consumption in urban areas.

The country's urban areas have been more efficient in water use.

The per capita comprehensive water use reduced to 323 liters per day in 2020 from 518 liters per day in 2000.

Last year, China's urban renewable water consumption reached 14.6 billion cubic meters, increasing 14 times over that of 2006 and accounting for 23.2 percent of the total urban water supply.

As for the entire nation, the water-use efficiency has reached the global average, according to the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR).

The water use per 10,000 yuan (about $1,547.7) of GDP and the water use per 10,000 yuan of industrial added value stood at 60.8 and 38.4 cubic meters, respectively, in 2019, down 24 percent and 28 percent from that in 2015, the MWR said.

As of March this year, the first phase of south-to-north water diversion project's eastern and middle routes had transferred over 40.8 billion cubic meters to the arid areas in the north, benefiting more than 130 million people.

More than 40 big and medium-sized cities received water from the project, which improved supply in these places.

The project also helped ecological restoration of rivers and lakes along its eastern and middle routes, with over 5.2 billion cubic meters of water supplied.

The annual campaign for urban water conservation, which lasts from May 9 to 15 this year, has been carried out by China for 30 years.