China's big drought expected to worsen
Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily |
April 5, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE drought in southwest China will continue and the situation is looking grave for this month as less rain and higher temperatures are forecast for the region, according to a senior official.
Water shortages were likely to increase in April, and thus meeting the water demand for people's daily uses and agricultural production would be more challenging, said Chen Lei, deputy chief of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
Chen, also minister of water resources, urged sustained efforts to guarantee safe drinking water and find underground sources to increase supply in a statement on the SFDH Website on Saturday.
He said that increasing water supply for spring planting was also necessary.
By last Wednesday, the drought, which hit the southwest last year, had left 19.4 million people short of drinking water and affected 6.48 million hectares of farmland in provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan as well as the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chongqing Municipality.
"The climate is very abnormal this year with increasingly complicated and uncertain factors," Chen said, warning that there was increasing possibility that the drought-affected areas might also suffer from flooding in the future.
A power shortage caused by the drought had spread to Hubei Province after hitting export hub of Guangdong Province, prompting additional demand for coal-fired generation.
About 300,000 tons of thermal coal was needed to plug a shortage in Hubei due to a severe cut in hydropower, which supplies 30 percent of the province's needs, local officials said.
The drought had reduced the water level of the massive Three Gorges reservoir - located mostly in Hubei - by 6 meters from a year earlier.
Hubei, a base for auto makers such as Dongfeng Motor Group and steel mills such as Wuhan Iron and Steel, recorded a 30 percent rise in power use in the first quarter of this year, and shortages are expected to worsen in summer.
(Shanghai Daily/Agencies)
Water shortages were likely to increase in April, and thus meeting the water demand for people's daily uses and agricultural production would be more challenging, said Chen Lei, deputy chief of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
Chen, also minister of water resources, urged sustained efforts to guarantee safe drinking water and find underground sources to increase supply in a statement on the SFDH Website on Saturday.
He said that increasing water supply for spring planting was also necessary.
By last Wednesday, the drought, which hit the southwest last year, had left 19.4 million people short of drinking water and affected 6.48 million hectares of farmland in provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan as well as the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chongqing Municipality.
"The climate is very abnormal this year with increasingly complicated and uncertain factors," Chen said, warning that there was increasing possibility that the drought-affected areas might also suffer from flooding in the future.
A power shortage caused by the drought had spread to Hubei Province after hitting export hub of Guangdong Province, prompting additional demand for coal-fired generation.
About 300,000 tons of thermal coal was needed to plug a shortage in Hubei due to a severe cut in hydropower, which supplies 30 percent of the province's needs, local officials said.
The drought had reduced the water level of the massive Three Gorges reservoir - located mostly in Hubei - by 6 meters from a year earlier.
Hubei, a base for auto makers such as Dongfeng Motor Group and steel mills such as Wuhan Iron and Steel, recorded a 30 percent rise in power use in the first quarter of this year, and shortages are expected to worsen in summer.
(Shanghai Daily/Agencies)
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