Water shortages spread at alarming rate
Source: Xinhua |
August 17, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ABOUT 600,000 people in central and southwest China are facing drinking water shortages because of insufficient rainfall and scorching heat.
In Chongqing Municipality, about 79,000 residents in mountainous areas are facing temporary water shortages after summer rainfall dropped 20 to 60 percent from last year, according to sources at local drought relief and flood control office.
Temperatures have soared to above 38 degrees Celsius since early August.
Government officials supervising drought relief in the city have been urged to store water from heavy rains, which are expected to come during the current flood season. The rainwater should be channelled to drought-hit areas or reservoirs.
Statistics show water conservation projects in Chongqing are holding more water than the same period last year.
However, the Central Meteorological Observatory has said the maximum temperature in Chongqing is forecast to hit 40 degrees in the coming days, triggering further concerns. Crops are withering in the dry and cracked fields in central China.
In Suizhou City of Hubei Province, where maximum temperatures have been as high as 35 degrees since July, insufficient rainfall over the past 25 months is endangering the drinking water supply of more than 520,000 people and 160,000 livestock.
In Langhe Village, the worst-hit area in Suizhou, nearly 33 percent of cropland is expected to yield nothing this summer.
"Another one third of the land will only yield 40 percent of what it should have produced," said Lu Renfu, the village chief.
The 53 year old said the drought is the worst he has ever seen.
Zhan Shengquan, deputy head of Hedian Township, where Lu's village is located, told Xinhua news agency the largest reservoir in the township had only 3.5 million cubic meters of water, down from over 46 million cubic meters.
"We do not have enough water for residents, let alone for irrigation," Zhan said.
Suizhou has received only 340 millimeters of rainfall since mid-July, about half the usual amount and the least since 1957, when the city's first meteorological records can be traced, according to Yu Pengcheng, deputy head of Suizhou Drought Relief and Flood Control Office.
Extreme weather is also gripping other parts of China. The south is bracing for typhoon Kai-Tak, while the north is expected to be lashed by torrential rains.
In Chongqing Municipality, about 79,000 residents in mountainous areas are facing temporary water shortages after summer rainfall dropped 20 to 60 percent from last year, according to sources at local drought relief and flood control office.
Temperatures have soared to above 38 degrees Celsius since early August.
Government officials supervising drought relief in the city have been urged to store water from heavy rains, which are expected to come during the current flood season. The rainwater should be channelled to drought-hit areas or reservoirs.
Statistics show water conservation projects in Chongqing are holding more water than the same period last year.
However, the Central Meteorological Observatory has said the maximum temperature in Chongqing is forecast to hit 40 degrees in the coming days, triggering further concerns. Crops are withering in the dry and cracked fields in central China.
In Suizhou City of Hubei Province, where maximum temperatures have been as high as 35 degrees since July, insufficient rainfall over the past 25 months is endangering the drinking water supply of more than 520,000 people and 160,000 livestock.
In Langhe Village, the worst-hit area in Suizhou, nearly 33 percent of cropland is expected to yield nothing this summer.
"Another one third of the land will only yield 40 percent of what it should have produced," said Lu Renfu, the village chief.
The 53 year old said the drought is the worst he has ever seen.
Zhan Shengquan, deputy head of Hedian Township, where Lu's village is located, told Xinhua news agency the largest reservoir in the township had only 3.5 million cubic meters of water, down from over 46 million cubic meters.
"We do not have enough water for residents, let alone for irrigation," Zhan said.
Suizhou has received only 340 millimeters of rainfall since mid-July, about half the usual amount and the least since 1957, when the city's first meteorological records can be traced, according to Yu Pengcheng, deputy head of Suizhou Drought Relief and Flood Control Office.
Extreme weather is also gripping other parts of China. The south is bracing for typhoon Kai-Tak, while the north is expected to be lashed by torrential rains.
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