The State Council approved a project to divert water from the Yellow River to ease the serious water shortage in Tianjin, a north China municipality.

"The project starts from Liaocheng city in Shandong Province, runs through Qingliang River, the southern part of the Grand Canal in Hebei province, and lands in Tianjin. The total length is over 500 kilometers,” said Wang Jiangang, chief engineer of the Haihe River Management Committee under the Ministry of Water Conservancy.

"Since we use the former water course between Shandong and Hebei provinces, what we should do this time is to drudge the sludge and the dusts, block up 870-odd gaps and dig a 22-kilometer channel," he said.

It is the forth year that Tianjin suffers from drought. Two reservoirs to help the city's water supply can relieve little.

The municipal government strengthened the measures to save water and outlined water limit to local residents, which hardly solved the problem. "This project is urgent. We are planning to divert 500 million cubic meters water from the Yellow River," said Wang.

(China Daily)