The Department of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Administration is an interior department of the Ministry of Water Resources of China. The department's main responsibilities include: Coordinating and implementing key policies and measures regarding the project; taking charge of the project's final accounts, auditing and acceptance; formulating annual plans on water diversion; giving guidance of its implementation; organizing and coordinating project construction and operation management; and supervising and guiding the construction of auxiliary projects. Five divisions are set up within the department, namely the General Office, the Technology and Economy Division, the Operation Management Division, the Project Construction Division, and the Project Inspection and Acceptance Division.
The South-to-North Water Diversion Project is a major strategic infrastructure project aimed at alleviating the serious shortage of water resources in northern China. On the lower, middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the project has planned three transfer routes: -- the eastern route, the central route and the western route. When finished, the work will link China’s four main rivers— – the Yangtze River, the Huaihe River, the Yellow River, and the Haihe River. The water diversion project is expected to channel 44.8 billion cubic meters of water annually to China’s dry north annually. Among whichthe sum, 14.8 billion is diverted through the eastern route in three stages, 13 billion through the central route in two stages,; and 17 billion through the western route in three stages. The first phases of the eastern route and the central route were put into operation on Nov. 15, 2013 and Dec. 12, 2014, respectively. The two routes have fundamentally changed the water supply pattern in the receiving areas, and significantly improved the water quality and water supplies in those cities, benefiting more than 100 million people.