GUANGDONG Province has supplied Hong Kong with more than 14 billion cubic meters of freshwater over the past 20 years, said the provincial water resources department.

A continuous, sufficient supply of quality water to Hong Kong was possible after Guangdong spent heavily on the Dongjiang-Shenzhen Water Supply Project, said the department.

The project began operation in 1965 to solve water shortages in Hong Kong and has been expanded several times, raising its annual supply capacity from 68 million cubic meters to 2.4 billion cubic meters.

Since 1998, the province has spent more than 5 billion yuan (US$738 million) upgrading the project.

The 562-km Dongjiang River originates in eastern China’s Jiangxi Province, and flows to the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong.

Guangdong has created a 2,800-square-kilometer protection area for the river and has closed nearly 1,400 polluting factories in six cities since 2011 to ensure water quality.(Xinhua)