A prolonged drought has left nearly four million people
and 4.46 million livestock short of drinking water in China's
southwestern province of Sichuan.
Eighty counties or cities have had 20 to 40 days of drought,
according to the Sichuan provincial meteorological bureau.
Consistent high temperatures and limited, scattered rainfall
this spring were causing alarm and worry that the drought could
last throughout the summer. About 110,000 people are depending on
water being trucked to their locations, said the provincial water
resources department.
Xiang Qianming, a 54-year-old farmer in Hequn Village of Zizhong
County, has been fetching drinking water from a well about one
kilometer away from his village for a month.
"The water was pumped from a pond and stored in the well after
being filtered," said Xiang, whose 3,300 square meters of farmland
has been rendered practically useless because of the drought.
"The drought that hit the area last year is believed to be the
worst one in a hundred years. It is even rarer to see it being
followed by this year's spring drought," said Zhu Bin, vice head of
the provincial water resources department.
In Huoma village, up in the mountains, more than 150 residents
of 40 households have to rely on water brought by two fire engines
every two days.
While there was some rain in the province in May, it fell in
only a few areas, the bureau said.
Large tracts of farmland were not seeded this spring for lack of
moisture and some crops have shriveled. The bureau has dispatched
more than 20 work teams to carry out drought-relief work in farm
areas.
Drought in most parts of northern and western China since early
March has affected 14.93 million hectares of arable land and 7.52
million livestock.
The Ministry of Agriculture earlier warned the drought could
affect summer crop output.
(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2007)
