A lingering drought in central China's Hubei Province has rendered 1,392 reservoirs virtually useless as only dead water remains in them, said the local water authority Monday.

A vessel is seen stranding on the dried up riverbed of Hanjiang River in Yunxian County of Shiyan, central China's Hubei Province, May 15. A severe drought has pushed down the water level of Yunxian section of Hanjiang River, which was 136.78 meters up to 12:00 of local time Sunday, lower than average level.

Known as the "land of a thousand lakes" and a major producer of grain and cotton in the country, Hubei is suffering from a drought that has lasted for five months.

As of Sunday, water in four medium-sized and 1,388 small-sized reservoirs had dropped below the allowable discharge level for irrigation and other purposes, said Yuan Junguang, director with the reservoir management office of Hubei Provincial Water Resources Department.

One fourth of all small-sized reservoirs in Hubei were unusable with just dead water remaining in them which could only be pumped for use in an emergency, he said.

The water level of the Danjiangkou Reservoir, which is part of China's massive south-to-north water diversion project, was also extremely low, measuring 134.77 meters on Saturday, 4.23 meters below its dead water level.

Also as of Saturday, the drought had left about 315,000 people and 97,300 livestock in the province short of drinking water. About 12.45 million mu (about 830,000 hectares) of farmland has been affected by the drought, according to a survey conducted by the Hubei provincial agricultural department.

"Ever since Spring Festival in February, we've had no drinking water in the village. It's now a routine for us to carry water in from about two kilometers away," says Yu Youqing, 73-year-old farmer in the village of Huashan in Hubei.