China’s Jiangxi province has declared a water supply “red alert” for the first time after a prolonged drought dried up the country’s biggest lake _ Poyang Lake.
The Jiangxi government said that water levels in Poyang Lake, usually a flood outlet for the Yangtze River, fell from 19.43 metres to 7.1 metres in the last three months.
The level of water is expected to fall further in coming days due the lack of rain.
Precipitation since July is 60 percent less than it was a year ago, it added.
For the first time, 267 weather stations in China have reported record temperatures in August along with a long dry spell across the Yangtze river basin.
Although downpour relieved the drought in southwest China, central regions continue to suffer, with extremely dry weather stretching over 70 days in Jiangxi.
In this situation, the Chinese authorities have issued alert about shortage of water and increase in temperature due to climatic change.
