SHIJIAZHUANG, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday diverted water from its Yellow River to the Baiyangdian Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the country's northern part, amid efforts to restore its ecological functions.

    The lake, dubbed "Pearl of North China" and essential to the ecological system of the North China plain, has been suffering from severe pollution and record low water levels this year.

    Due to severe drought this year, the water level in the lake stood below an average 6.5 meters, an official guage of dryness of the lake.

    The water from the Yellow River, China second largest, reached the lake in Hebei province on Saturday, half a month after it started its 400 kilometers journey from Liaocheng, eastern Shandong province.

    Around 100 million square meters of Yellow River water will flow into the lake in 90 days, helping to raise the lake water level to 7.45 meters, according to Hebei Provincial Water Resources Bureau

    Officials with the bureau said the water diversion would help to improve the life of the residents living around the lake, the ecological system of the lake as well as that of the whole North China.

    Early this year plenty of fish worth almost three million U.S. dollars died from insufficient oxygen in the water as a huge amount of untreated domestic and industrial wastewater had been pumped into the lake.

    Situated about 130 kilometers south of Beijing, the marshy lake has in full a surface area of around 366 square kilometers.