Society

Parched throats struggle to sip water as drought bites

By Ma Lie (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-24 07:26

Li Shulan, 60, a farmer in Donghe village of Huining county, Gansu province, has not seen a drop of rain for more than three months.

To quench the parched throats of her family and livestock, she has to travel miles every day to the surrounding countryside to purchase water.

Of the four cattle she raised, three have been sold off in order to reduce water consumption.

"My husband and I live with our grandson. We have very little water to drink. The only cattle we have left requires at least two buckets of water a day," Li said.

Li is just one of hundreds of villagers in 10 provinces and regions of the country reeling under a severe drought.

"My son, who is a migrant worker, sent me some money for the Spring Festival. I bought 3 cubic meters of water with that money," Li said.

In drought-hit rural areas, the sale of water has become a big business.

Li Guohua, a resident of Miao'er village in Huining, found a spring near his house last year and built two ponds to store the water.

He travels around the region in his truck, making money by selling water to those in need.

"I started selling water in the second half of last year to villagers living in the radius of 20 sq km. I have been selling water almost every day," he said.

Li's truck can hold 1.3 cubic meters of water, all of which he sells at a price of 10 yuan to 40 yuan ($1.5 to $6), depending on the distance he has traveled.

"At present, more than 80 percent of people living near my village buy water from me. But the water I have stored will only last until April," he said.

According to official figures, 1.3 million hectares of farmland, or a third of Gansu's total farmland, has suffered due to the drought.

Bo Haiming, director of the Water Resources Bureau in Tianshui, said more than 72,100 people and 11,800 livestock are facing a shortage of drinking water in his municipality.

According to experts at the China Meteorology Bureau, there has been very little rain and snow in 10 provinces and regions in Southwest and Northwest China since last autumn. They warned that the situation might worsen as there are no signs of significant precipitation in the near future.

The bureau said Yunnan province is undergoing the severest drought in 60 years, with 94 percent of monitoring stations in the province claiming "severe drought".

Li Xiaoyang, 37, who lives in a mountainous village in Luquan county, Yunnan province, wakes up well before sunrise to trudge 4 km to another village, where she can buy water for her five-member family.

Since she can carry only two buckets at a time, Li has to make two trips to bring back enough water, which is only used for drinking and cooking.

"We have not taken a bath in six months," she said.

The Central Meteorological Station said there will be no significant rainfall in Yunnan and other provinces and regions in West China in the next 10 days, and the average temperature will be 2 C to 3 C higher than normal.

The drought will continue and develop, it said.