The opening ceremony of the centralized water supply project is held in Xia'nan town, Huanjiang autonomous county on June 24. [Photo provided by Li Muhang to chinadaily.com.cn]

Xia'nan town in Huanjiang autonomous county, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region held a ceremony on June 24 to celebrate the completion of its centralized water supply project, which will solve the water shortage problem of 15,000 Maonan people for thousands of years.

Huanjiang is the only Maonan autonomous county in the country. Xia'nan town is the birthplace of the Maonan ethnic group and its main settlement. The township governs one community and 10 villages with a total population of 18,600, which is 98.2 percent comprised of Maonan people.

Due to the extremely harsh natural conditions and limited water resources, drinking water has been a problem for the local people for a long time. After Tan Mengxi, a NPC deputy and Maonan, put forward a proposal to solve the problem of drinking water in the main settlement of the Maonan people at the National People's Congress in 2014, the centralized water supply project was approved and construction began in 2016.

The project has a total investment of 24.5 million yuan ($3.56 million), of which 19 million yuan is subsidized by the autonomous region and 5.5 million yuan comes from the local construction fund. The project includes a pumping station, a 1,000 cubic meters high storage reservoir, a water delivery pipeline spanning 36.75 km, an 11 KV transmission line of 20.8 km, and a water purification plant. It covers the Xia'nan community and the surrounding villages such as Bochuan, Zhongnan, and Xiyuan, benefiting more than 15,000 people.

The Maonan people also held various folk activities at the completion ceremony, such as an intangible cultural heritage project showcasing Maonan folk culture and a bird-shape zongzi making competition.

Villagers come to take part in the activity. [Photo provided by Li Muhang to chinadaily.com.cn]

Huang Rongbiao, Party secretary of Huanjiang autonomous county, prays for blessings at the ceremony. [Photo provided by Li Muhang to chinadaily.com.cn]