Water quality has been monitored in 36 surface water sections along the eastern route. Statistics from the Office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Commission of the State Council show that in 2000, water quality in only one of the 36 sections met the required Grade III standard, that of three sections was rated Grade IV, and that of the remaining 32 sections was rated Grade V or worse.

China's Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water classify surface water into five categories of usability. Water rated between Grades I and III can be used as sources of drinking water. Water of Grade IV quality is safe for general industrial use and recreational activities not involving direct skin contact. Grade V is safe for agricultural use and landscaping, whereas water rated below Grade V is unsafe for any use.

On January 15, E Jingping, Director of the Office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Commission of the State Council, said that remarkable progress has been made in pollution control along the eastern route.

He said that latest monitoring showed that water quality of all the 36 sections reached the Grade III level for the first time in the project's history, and all sewage outlets along the trunk line had been shut.

The total discharge and density of major water pollutants along the eastern route was reduced by more than 80 percent in the past decade, E said.

Currently, water in the Danjiangkou Reservoir, headwater of the central route between Hubei and Henan provinces, is rated Grade II, which is clean enough to meet the project's standard.

A few years ago, when fish farming in the reservoir was booming, water turned black due to contamination by fish bait and feces, a local villager told Xinhua.

Over the past five years, 6.1 billion yuan ($969.8 million) has been invested in building sewage and garbage treatment facilities, and cleaning up nearly 700 small tributaries along the central route, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection. More than 1,000 polluting firms, including paper mills, pharmaceutical factories and mineral processing plants have been shut down.

Tourism boost

The Office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Commission of the State Council released a plan to develop ecological and cultural tourism on December 19, 2012. According to the plan, 12 large scenic areas will be built along the 1,432-km-long central route of the project.

These 12 scenic spots include the dam of Danjiangkou Reservoir, the starting point of the route in Taocha Village in Hubei, the inverted siphon structure under the Yellow River, and the route's end at Beijing's Tuancheng Lake.

Many structures built along the central route are spectacular. Danjiangkou Reservoir is the largest man-made fresh water lake in Asia. The dam around the reservoir is planned to be raised from a height of 162 meters to 176.6 meters. Water diverted along the central route will go under the Yellow River through two 4,250-meter tunnels.

Scenic-viewing platforms, parks, monuments and museums will be built around the 12 sites. Mao Feng, a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Architecture and one of the drafters of the plan, told Beijing-based Outlook Weekly that these projects will be completed before the central route is put into service.

In addition, the central route also passes by the heartlands of Chinese civilization. According to Pan Xiaopeng, an official with the National Tourism Administration, 12 of China's 43 World Heritage Sites, 20 percent of key cultural relics under state protection and 11 percent of the country's top-class scenic areas are situated along the central route.

Yu Youjun, Deputy Director of the Office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Commission of the State Council, predicted that the abundant tourism resources along the central route will attract a large amount of tourists. In the meantime, he cautioned that guaranteeing water quality and safety should be preconditions for developing tourism.

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