The South-to-North Water Diversion Project is a multi-decade infrastructure mega project designed to divert water from China's humid south to dry north. It is the world's biggest in terms of its area of coverage, volume of water, and degree of difficulty. Here are top 10 news of the project in 2017.

By the end of 2017, the first phase of the eastern route and the central route of the project diverted 13.92 billion cubic meters of water from the Yangtze River. The project directly benefited at least 100 million people in 33 prefecture-level cities, while also notably contributing to social, economic and ecological improvements.  (1/10)

In January, 80 outstanding organizations, 60 outstanding individuals and 20 model workers were awarded by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Construction Commission of the State Council for their contributions to the water diversion project.  (2/10)

The Beijing and Tianjin municipal governments issued cooperation plans in January and May respectively to invest a total of 4 billion yuan during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20) to help the project's water source areas to protect the local water quality, improve people’s livelihood, accelerate industry upgrade and alleviate poverty.  (3/10)

The "13th Five-Year Plan for the Water Pollution Prevention and Water and Soil Conservation on the Danjiangkou Reservoir Area and Upper Reaches" was issued in May.  (4/10)

On May 26, the Office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Construction Commission of the State Council and the Hebei provincial government jointly conducted drills on the emergency response to pollution scenarios along the central route project, marking the first time that the project operator cooperated with the local government in conducting such drills.  (5/10)

On Sept. 11-15, the Office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Construction Commission of the State Council invited builders of the project to visit the central route and eastern route projects. E Jingping, director of the project office, exchanged views with the builder representatives.  (6/10)

In October, the water level in the Danjiangkou Reservoir kept rising and reached a record of 167 meters. In response, the reservoir released floodwater twice, and the second time lasted for 24 days, marking a first in the history of the reservoir. The central route project took advantage of the overflow by diverting 335 million cubic meters of water to Henan province, turning flood to resource and improving ecological environment along the project.  (7/10)

The achievements of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was included in the "Exhibition of China's Achievements in the Past Five Years," which was held from September to December. Over 2 million people paid visits to the exhibition.  (8/10)

On Nov. 2, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Construction Commission of the State Council held the eighth plenary session in Beijing. Zhang Gaoli, vice premier and head of the construction commission, attended and spoke on the meeting. Wang Yang, vice premier and deputy head of the construction commission, also attended the meeting.  (9/10)

From November to December, the water diversion project opened its construction sites along its first phase of the eastern and central routes for public inspection. A total of 1,100 people, comprising public figures, journalists and members of the general public, attended 23 activities held at the sites. This was the first time that the project opened to the public.  (10/10)