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Two children play in a dried-up pool at Xiniushi Village in Daying County of Suining City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Aug. 13, 2006. Most areas of Sichuan Province have been suffering from month-long drought and searing heat. Local governments have allocated funds to help residents fight against drought by tapping ground water and improving water conservation facilities. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery
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Related photos: Drought strikes Sichuan
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CHONGQING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Searing heat and the
worst drought to hit parts of China in 50 years have left millions of people
facing drinking water shortages and at least one person dead, and are
challenging the country's power and water supply networks.
A 30-year-old tourist died of heatstroke in Nanjing, capital of east China's
Jiangsu Province. In the southwestern municipality of Chongqing alone, more than 7.5 million people are
suffering water shortages. In remote areas people are relying on water being
transported from the towns and rationed on arrival.
The daily water consumption in Shanghai has hit
10.005 million cubic meters over the past few days, the highest in history. The
maximum water supply of the city stands at 10.96 million cubic meters.
The water supply network in
Shanghai faces "great pressure" for such a massive demand, said sources with the
municipal bureau of water resources on Wednesday.
The sources said Shanghai has built five waterworks
to supply 700,000 more cubic meters of water every day.
Hangzhou, capital of rich eastern Zhejiang Province,
was forced to resort to a blackout on Tuesday, the first for this summer, to
avoid the breakdown of a power transmission line in the eastern part of the
city, the local power supply administration confirmed on Wednesday.
With temperatures nudging 38 degrees Celsius on
Monday and Tuesday, the city's electricity consumption reached a record 5.91
million kilowatt-hours, up 23 percent over the same period last year.
The Hangzhou power grid is facing
a power shortage of 250,000 kilowatts and has little chance of buying
electricity from neighboring provinces that are struggling to provide for
themselves.
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Passengers enjoy the
coolness brought by buckets of ice in southwest China's Chongqing
Municipality, Aug. 16, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)
Photo Gallery
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In Chongqing Municipality, where the temperature
exceeded 40 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, many businesses have been told to
suspend production in the afternoon and at night to ease pressure on the power
supply network.
The scorching weather and drought will continue in
most parts of central and southwestern China with meteorologists forecasting
little rainfall over the next three days.
In Changsha, central China's Hunan Province,
temperatures topped 39 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, the central meteorological
station reported.
Searing heat and drought have created problems for
the supply of drinking water in Chongqing and Hunan Province, leaving about 7.8
million people thirsty.
More than 7.5 million people in 40
counties in Chongqing have been panting for drinking water since severe drought started
in mid May.
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Workers brave the heat to
repair an electrical transformer in southwest China's Chongqing
Municipality, Aug. 16, 2006. The city's infrastructure is challenged by
sustained scorching weather as temperatures reach up to 40 degrees
Celsius. (Xinhua Photo)
Photo Gallery
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"The village well has dried up and even the dusty
water at the bottom has been scooped up," said Gu Qixiu, a villager in Zhangguan
town, Yubei District. "The townsfolk have been sending us water wagons and each
family gets two buckets of water a day."
Gu said the arid cropland is unlikely to yield a cent
this year. "Even sweet potatoes refuse to grow in the arid land."
"This is the worst drought to hit Chongqing in 50
years," said He Lingyun, a disaster relief official with the municipal
government. "Two-thirds of the local rivers and lakes have dried up and more
than 200 reservoirs are stagnant."
The water level in the Chongqing section of the
Yangtze River, China's longest waterway, dropped to 3.5 meters on Aug. 12, an
all-time low since Yangtze hydrological data became available in 1892.
Drinking water shortages have affected another
270,000 people in central China's Hunan Province, where the mercury has been
flirting with 40 degrees Celsius over the past few days.
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