On June 20, 2023, the highly anticipated Yichang section of the South to North Water Diversion Project was commenced in Wuduhe Town, Yiling District, marking that the Yichang section of the Three Gorges Diversion Project has entered the comprehensive construction stage. After the implementation of the project, it will connect the South–North Water Transfer Project and the Three Gorges Project, which are the important tools of the two major countries.

The water diversion project from the Yangtze River to the Han River is the follow-up water source project of the middle route project of the South to North Water Transfer Project. It diverts water from the Three Gorges reservoir area of the Yangtze River to the lower reaches of the Danjiangkou Reservoir of the Han River, improves the water resource allocation capacity of the Han River basin, and creates conditions for the long-term water transfer scale of the Han River to the Wei River Project, and supplies water for urban and rural life and industry in the areas along the water transmission line of the project. The average annual water diversion volume of the project is 3.9 billion cubic meters.

The project takes water from Longtan Creek on the left bank of the Three Gorges Reservoir, and uses pressure single hole artesian water conveyance. It passes through Yichang City, Xiangyang City and Danjiangkou in Hubei Province, and ends at Anle Estuary on the right bank of the Han River downstream of the dam of Danjiangkou Reservoir. The total length of the project is 194.7 kilometers, including 193.9 kilometers of tunnels. The total duration of the project design and construction is 108 months. The total static investment of the project approved in the feasibility study is 58.235 billion yuan.

After the implementation of the project, it will connect the South–North Water Transfer Project and the Three Gorges Project, further open the Yangtze River water transmission channel to the north, increase the water volume of the first phase of the Middle Route Project, improve the water supply assurance rate of the Middle Route Project, and accelerate the construction of the main framework and arteries of the national water network. At the same time, it will also supplement water to the middle and lower reaches of the Han River, which plays an important role in improving the water resource allocation capacity of the Han River basin and improving the water ecological environment in the middle and lower reaches of the Han River.

The Yichang section of the Yangtze River Diversion Project crosses Yiling District and Yuan'an County. The length of water transmission lines in Yichang is more than one third, about 72 kilometers, and the investment is about 18 billion yuan. In March 2020, Yichang Municipal Government set up a coordination group to actively coordinate and support the project promotion.

The Yichang Yiling section from the Yangtze River to Han involves five townships, namely Taipingxi, Dengcun Township, Xiabaoping Township, Wuduhe Town, and Zhangcunping Town, with a total length of 66.3km in Yiling District. The land acquisition and relocation involves three townships, namely Taipingxi Village, Wudu River, and Zhangcunping Village, including Taipingxi Village, Changling Village, Qingjiangping Village, Xiaomiao Village, Taopinghe Village, and Zhaigou Village. The total land acquisition area is 2939.76 acres, involving a population of 359 people in 129 households.

At present, the first batch of 679.52 acres of land has been delivered for use in the Yiling section of the Yangtze River and Han River Diversion Project, ensuring the early construction land demand of the project and making room for high-quality development of the project.Editor/Ma Xue