Drought
Plaques China
By Sara
Brigit Morris
The northern provinces of China are suffering from the worst drought to hit
the country
in 50 years. The drought is affecting
approximately 3.7 million people and 1.85 million livestock and is
hitting
eight provinces which contain about half of China’s wheat-growing area. The
drought has affected about 1.74 million hectares of
crop and caused
an economic loss of 1.6 billion yuan (234 million U.S. dollars) in east
China's Anhui province. (Reuters
and Xinhua News Agency)
Shortages of water are
exacerbated by water pollution, which leaves many of China’s rivers unfit for irrigation.
Water supplies have been drying up in
northern China for decades, the result of pervasive overuse
and
waste. Ma Jun stated “Water use in the region is not sustainable. We have seen the water table dropping
steadily over the last three decades. Obviously this kind of drought
adds
insult to injury." Environmental
campaigners warned the lack of rainfall had merely exacerbated a long
term
problem in a naturally dry region where consumption has soared, thanks
to
intensive agriculture, industry and a rising and increasingly urbanized
population.
The authorities
have opened dam sluices,
draining reservoirs to irrigate dry fields; dispatched water trucks to
thousands of villages, with dry wells; and bored hundreds of new wells.
(Michael Wines)
In some areas along the Beijiang River the water level is below one meter. Navigation was not possible and about 160
boats were stranded. The 486-km-long
river is one of the most important waterways in the Guangdong. It supplies
water to millions of people and cities. (Rueters - Jason Subler and Li
Jiansheng)
To cope with the drought
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao
launched the highest emergency and ordered all-out efforts to combat
the severe
drought. Authorities are looking to
massive water diversion projects from its two longest rivers for
irrigation. Pumps have been purchased to
draw water from streams and wells and plastics bags have been handed
out for
citizens to haul water from taps and trucks are hauling water to
communities
where the water has run out. (Scotsman News)