JINAN - Water from the Yangtze River, China's longest, began flowing to the eastern Shandong province on Friday along the eastern route of the giant south-to-north water diversion project.

Shandong, a developed coastal province, will receive a net water supply of 442 million cubic meters this year through the route, which passes canals and lakes. This year's volume nearly doubles that of last year, according to the south-to-north water diversion office of Shandong.

The Shandong stretch of the diversion route, has been operating in a safe and stable state since late 2013, said the office. The water quality in the main route reached Level III, which means it can be used for drinking, swimming or fish farming.

The eastern route transports water from the Yangtze to Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces for industrial, living use and environment improvement. It plans to transfer a total of 4.2 billion cubic meters this year.

The water diversion project was designed to take water from the Yangtze, through eastern, middle and western routes to feed dry areas in the north.

The middle route starts from a reservoir in Hubei province and feeds water to Henan, Hebei, Tianjin and Beijing. It started supplying water in Dec 2014.