Ministry of Construction official Zhang Qingfeng said some 110 cities in China are "severely short of water," while another 400 are also facing shortages, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

More than 20 million rural residents are also suffering from inadequate supplies of drinking water, Zhang said.

"Therefore, imposing limits on water usage and controlling pollution in cities, conserving limited resources ... have become an important task in the country's strategy for sustainable development," Zhang was quoted as saying.

In 40 percent of China's cities, at least 12 percent of the water supply is lost through leaking pipelines and excessive use, state media earlier reported.

China has resorted to a variety of measures to address growing shortages from local well-digging projects to the multi-billion dollar "South-to-North Water Diversion Project" to divert up to 48 billion cubic meters of water yearly from the Yangtze River valley through three canals to the north of the country.

China's break-neck economic development has resulted in surging demand for water and power and experts have warned that the worsening situation could become a major problem impeding the economic development of the country.

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