Photo taken on Dec. 12, 2014 shows the main canal of the south-to-north water diversion project in Baoding, north China's Hebei Province. The middle route of the nation's enormous south-to-north water diversion project started supplying water Friday as part of the project's first phase. It will pump 9.5 billion cubic meters of water each year from the Danjiangkou reservoir in central China's Hubei Province to the northern provinces of Hebei and Henan as well as Beijing and Tianjin, benefiting some 100 million people. The main canal of the middle route is 1,432 km in length, featuring a 1,196.36-km-long open channel. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong)