The Pihe River Aqueduct, part of the Yangtze-to-Huaihe River water diversion project, was put into operation on May 1. The steel aqueduct, constructed by China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co., Ltd., boasts the longest span worldwide.  

Located in the northern side of the watershed for the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, the aqueduct serves as an important water source for Hefei and Liu’an in Anhui Province. Of the total length of 350 meters, 246 meters are steel structure, weighing some 21,000 tons. The designed discharge is 150 cubic meters per second, and the designed water depth is four meters. Classified as a class VI waterway, it allows the passage of ships with a tonnage of 100 tons. The aqueduct has three steel truss arches, with the main arch spanning 110 meters and the remaining two 68 meters each. The main arch spans 3.8 meters longer than that of the Magdeburg Water Bridge in Germany. Thus the aqueduct is world’s longest-span steel aqueduct structure. The lower part of the structure is a class II waterway for the Yangtze-to-Huaihe River water diversion project. The altitude difference of the two waterways is around 30 meters. 

The construction began in December 2018. The maximum water depth of 5.05 meters was reached on April 15, 2021, making the aqueduct capable of holding 100,000 cubic meters.(By Li Song and Chen Yufei)