The low water level has already had serious consequences, with a stranded ship leaking at least 30 tons of petrol into the river's Zhijiang section, which is only 2.9 meters deep.

The ship, with a cargo of 1,000 tons of petrol, was sailing from Wuhan to Yichang, and got stuck at 2 am on Tuesday, according to Zhang Jing, an official with the Yangtze River channel management bureau based in Wuhan, Hubei Province.

Water levels in the Cuntan section of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River were only 0.17 meters higher than its record low.

The Yichang, Shashi, Zhicheng and Chongqing sections in the upper part of the Yangtze River's middle reaches all saw their lowest ever water levels last week.

On Sunday, the water level in Yichang section was 38.07 meters above sea level, while the previous record was 38.30 meters.

"The low water level is largely a result of meager rainfall," Zhang explained.

The period from November to April is usually the low water season in the Yangtze River valley, and rainfall this winter is far less compared to previous years, he said.

Starting from January, the upper reaches of the Yangtze River have seen 15 to 52 percent less rainfall than usual, therefore the runoff in the river has continued to fall, according to the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission's statistics.

The Three Gorges Dam also has a slight influence on water levels in Yichang section, but this is "not significant," he said.

Fortunately, the lower part of the river's middle reaches and its downstream sections have witnessed higher than usual water levels.

Statistics show the water level in Hankou section is at least 1 meter higher than the past year's average over the same period, and this is also the case at Dongting Lake.

"In the following days the water level in the river's upper reaches will gradually rise," Chen said.

The serious water shortage has a great influence on local navigation. The damaged ship is unlikely to cause any serious pollution to the river, Shi Wenxin, a local safety supervision official said in a China News Agency report.

Local navigation authorities have ordered a ban on navigation in that part of the river to prevent fire and organized a rescue team to deal with the aftermath.

The rescue team has drawn all the gasoline out of the damaged hold and stopped more petrol from leaking by Tuesday night, an official at the rescue scene named Wang said in a phone interview with China Daily.

Yesterday morning, the rescue team was trying to pull the ship to the bank, Wang said.

(China Daily February 13, 2003)