China is likely to experience a catastrophic drought, the worst
threat to the national water supply and grain production, next
year, said Wang Shucheng, minister of water resources, at a
national conference yesterday.
The drought may threaten the country's farming and water supply
as well as efforts to rehabilitate fragile ecosystems. He urged
water supply authorities to prepare for a possible disaster to
mitigate losses.
Over the past few weeks, rain and snowfall have eased a
dry-spell that has lingered since autumn in much of the north. "The
shortage of water has, so far, not fundamentally improved in the
north," Wang said, adding that water authorities "must be ready to
deal with a worsening situation next year."
This year, southern China, particularly the provinces of Guangdong
and Hainan
and?Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region, have been ravaged since early autumn
by the worst drought since 1951.
It is still threatening the water supply of some 15 million
people in the cities of Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Foshan, Shunde and
Jiangmen.
Zhu Zhaohua, deputy director of Guangdong Water Resources
Bureau, told China Daily that runoffs from the Xijiang
River, a major tributary to the Pearl River, have dropped by 15
percent this year, with only 40 percent of water levels at local
reservoirs replenished.
As a result, Guangdong has been forced to limit the use of water
in some areas. Among the measures, the province has stopped using
water to generate electricity to ensure that there is enough for
people in urban areas.
According to Wang Qiusheng, deputy director of the Pearl River
Water Resources Committee, they are considering diverting water
from other parts of the country to help fight the severe drought
and salt tide currently plaguing the Pearl River Delta. He said an
emergency plan regarding water diversion had been completed and was
awaiting approval from the State Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters.
According to the plan, if the salt tide occurs extensively,
water will be discharged from reservoirs, such as Tianshengqiao
Reservoir in southwest China's Guizhou
Province, Yantan Reservoir in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous
Region and Feilaixia Reservoir on the upper reaches of the Beijiang
River, a tributary of the Pearl River, to dilute it.
The plowing season next spring, when about 20 percent of
Guangdong's water supply is scheduled to be used for irrigation,
may also be affected, he said.
This year, 23.4 million people have been hit by seasonal
shortages of drinking water at least once and 16 million hectares
of crops have been affected by the drought.
According to official statistics from the Ministry of Water
Conservancy, floods in China this year also killed 1,343 people,
damaged 7.73 million hectares of crops and caused direct economic
losses of 66.6 billion yuan (approximately US$8.02 billion).
(Xinhua News Agency,?China.org.cn, December 23, 2004)