China drought leaves millions short of water

Terra Daily via Agence France-Presse: Millions of people face drinking water shortages in southwestern China because of a once-a-century drought that has dried up rivers and threatens vast farmlands, state media reported Wednesday. The drought has gripped huge areas of Guizhou, Yunnan, and Sichuan provinces, the Guangxi region, and the mega-city of Chongqing for months, with rainfall 60 percent below normal since September, the Global Times said.

Guizhou province has been particularly hard-hit, with 86 out of its 88 cities within the drought zone and more than 17 million people short of drinking water, the report said. Millions of people also were said to be short of water in other provinces, according to various reports.

The Global Times said some rivers had dried up in parts of Guizhou and that local villagers in some areas were lining up to obtain emergency water supplies distributed by the government. China is prone to extreme weather, and severe droughts are a regular occurrence throughout the country. However, the current water shortages reported in the southwest have been particularly acute….

Wan Feng Lin River near Xingyi, Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou, China, shot by Philippe Semanaz in 2005, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license