China Drought Brings Rivers to Historic Low
2009-10-22 9:11
Drought across southern and central China shows no sign of abating. It’s bringing several rivers to all-time lows, damaging harvests and threatening water supplies for millions of people.
A lack of rainfall since August has brought the water of the Ganjiang River in Jiangxi Province to its lowest level ever. It’s also brought water traffic to a two-month standstill in some parts of the river.
The Ganjiang River feeds into the Yangtze River, China's longest waterway. The rivers are essential for the transfer of goods to the ports of eastern China.
Jiangxi's weather bureau says they’ve had just over four inches of rain since mid August, less than half the usual amount. One director at a water control station says the Ganjiang was almost 13 feet lower than its average.
[Li Haihui, Director, Shuiwen Water Station]:
"At the moment the water level of the Ganjiang River at Waizhou station is 13.77 meters. The average level over many years is 17.43 meters.”
The Xiangjiang River in Hunan Province also reached a historic low. It’s causing a severe shortage of drinking water for over three million people in the nearby cities along the river.
Drought also threatens to damage tens of thousands of hectares of cropland in Anhui and Fujian provinces.
Many regional reservoirs have dried up, leaving irrigated crops bone dry.
Some relief may come in the form of drizzle, predicted for southern China over the next few days. Since the 1990s drought has become more and more frequent in the country.
