BEIJING, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The water stored at Miyun Reservoir, Beijing's largest reservoir, surpassed 2 billion cubic meters on Sunday, compared to 1.2 billion in July 2016.

Located in Miyun District, the reservoir is a major drinking water source for Beijing, serving over 11 million people.

With a total storage capacity of 4.375 billion cubic meters, Miyun Reservoir has been at less than its capacity for years due to a drop in the inflow from upstream rivers.

At the beginning of 2015, the reservoir had only 820 million cubic meters of water.

Since water began to be channeled from central China's Hubei Province to the capital in December 2014 via the south-to-north water diversion project, the reservoir's water level has gradually increased.

Ding Kai, with the Beijing south-to-north water diversion project construction commission office, said that water plants started using the "southern water" to replace water from the reservoir, leading to a drop in the reservoir's water output of more than 500 million cubic meters every year.

Meanwhile, the reservoir receives some 364 million cubic meters of "southern water" annually, he said.

Thanks to the water diversion project, combined with local authorities' efforts in water protection and rising precipitation in recent years, the reservoir is seeing its water levels increase steadily.

The district has also closed down over 300 companies during the past few years and set up a 1,200-person water protection team. Enditem

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