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One Million In China Face Water Shortage
Beijing (AFP) Feb 26, 2007 A severe drought in southwestern China is threatening the water supplies of one million people and crippling navigation on the depleted Yangtze River, state media reported on Monday. Authorities in Chongqing municipality have sent water trucks into the most parched areas to provide water for residents and livestock hit by weeks without rain, Xinhua news agency said. Water levels on the Yangtze, China's longest river, have decreased rapidly and officials halted navigation near Chongqing city on Monday after a barge carrying 1,400 tons of timber became stranded for several hours, it said. One of Chongqing's largest drinking water suppliers said the water level had fallen below most of the pipes the company uses to draw water from the river. "If the water levels in the Yangtze and its upper tributary Jialing River continue to decline, we'll face a real crisis," Xinhua quoted a spokesman with Shapingba Waterworks as saying. The region is still reeling from a severe drought last summer, the worst in decades, which forced tens of thousands of farmers to leave in search of work elsewhere. Chongqing municipality is home to about 30 million people.
Source: Agence France-Presse
related report The government will set up consumption quotas and make local officials responsible for managing the use of water, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing the ministry of water resources. The government also aims to establish 100 pilot water-saving schemes in the run-up to 2010, and to roll out successful projects across the nation, according to the agency. "There is huge potential for water saving in China," said Wang Shucheng, minister of water resources. China only recycles 60 to 65 percent of its industrial water, compared with 80 to 85 percent in developed countries, the agency said. Double-digit economic growth and a growing population are putting a heavy strain on China's limited water resources, and the consequences are beginning to show. There was enough water in Beijing to adequately supply just over 14 million people in 2005, but the city had 15 million permanent residents and four million migrant workers at the end of last year, Xinhua said recently.
Source: Agence France-Presse Email This Article
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