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Several Chinese provinces and cities along the Yangtze River have seen sparse rainfall during the traditional flood season this year and temperatures keep breaking records, causing the river’s water level to fall.
The drought has hit 644,667 hectares of farmland in six provinces, including Sichuan, Hubei and Jiangxi and water supply to 830,000 people has also been affected, according to state media.
In the city of Chongqing alone, 51 rivers and 24 reservoirs have dried up and water supply to 358,000 rural population has been affected, according to the municipal water authority.
Many places in Jianghuai, Jianghan and Jiangnan as well as the Sichuan Basin and the southern parts of Shaanxi province will see little rainfall and will continue to experience high temperatures in the next 10 days, the National Meteorological Center said on Monday.
The water level of the Yangtze River has been falling during this year’s main flood season, according to the flood control and drought relief headquarters of Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province.
In early and mid-July, the Hankou station, in Wuhan, recorded 59.184 billion cubic meters of water inflow, 18% below the average level in the past 30 years. The water level at the station was only 17.22 meters at 5 p.m. on Monday, marking the lowest level for the same period on record.
Sichuan province and Chongqing city in the upper reaches, Wuhan and Jiujiang in the middle reaches and Nanjing in the lower reaches of the Yangtze river have all witnessed less-than-usual rainfall. Precipitation in late June was 20% below normal, and that in July was more than 30% lower than usual.
Seven rivers and one reservoir in the city of Chongqing had dried up due the heatwave and drought. And the Chishui Danxia Great Waterfall scenic area in Zunyi, Guizhou province, has shut with upper streams drying up.
Meanwhile, Dongting Lake in the lower reaches entered the dry season four months ahead of schedule and Poyang Lake also moved into drought, 100 days earlier than usual. Records have been kept since 1951.
With rivers and lakes drying up, many provinces and cities have rolled out drought relief measures to ensure safe drinking water for households and livestock as well as for crop irrigation.
Xingshan county of Yichang city in Hubei province, which has been the hottest region in China for several ays, has been cloud seeding and will continue through tomorrow, according to local media reports.
The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Water Resources set up a fund of 200 million yuan ($29.5 million) for eight provinces and autonomous regions on Aug. 12 to subsidize water conservancy, drought-relief water transfers and the building of drought-relief facilities in dry areas.