ZHENGZHOU - Operation of the first phase of the middle route of China's South-North water diversion project will soon begin, and water quality monitoring is underway.

The environmental protection bureau of central China's Henan province said on Sunday that the province's twelve cities, including the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, have started testing the quality of water diverted from the south.

Water temperature, PH value, and the index of chemical composition such as dissolved oxygen, ammonia nitrogen and permanganate are to be tested. So far, there has been no reported problem in Henan, said Zhou Wenxian, of the provincial environmental protection bureau.

Areas along the route have emergency response mechanisms. If the water in the trunk channel is found to be polluted, it will be diverted.

In the first phase, the middle route of the project will see 9.5 billion cubic meters of water per year pumped through canals and pipes from the Danjiangkou reservoir in Hubei province to the northern areas.