BEIJING - More than 185 million people in China have directly benefited from a massive water diversion project that has been pumping water from the water-rich south to the drought-prone north over the past decade, authorities said Thursday.

READ MORE: Mega project in China diverts 76.5 billion cubic meters of water to north

The South-to-North Water Diversion Project has diverted more than 76.7 billion cubic meters of water to regions in the north through its middle and eastern routes.