One million in China face water shortage

BEIJING (AFP) – 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.

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.

AFP