China's rapid economic development and its increasing thirst for water has dried up most of the tributaries on a key river that winds through 26 large and medium-sized cities, a water conservation agency reported yesterday.

The Haihe River valley, with an area of 320,000 square kilometers, covers Beijing and Tianjin municipalities and the provinces and regions of Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan and Inner Mongolia.

The Haihe River Water Conservancy Committee under the Ministry of Water Resources reported 98 percent of the water resources in the river valley have been exploited, far exceeding the world standard of 40 percent.

And now, according to a survey conducted by the committee, 60 percent of 21 tributaries of the Haihe River have run dry, with affected length reaching over 200 kilometers.

The area is suffering from a shortage of water resources, with per capita water availability of less than 293 cubic meters, which is far less than the world shortage standard of 1,000 cubic meters, committee officials said.

Further, due to lack of surface water, the river valley tapped underground water to meet the growing needs, leaving some regions with geological disasters. At present, a total of 4.2 billion cubic meters of shallow underground water has been over-exploited, the committee said.

The river's water resources have been overused to adapt to the growing population and rapid economic development along the river, committee officials said.

The growing water needs of China's economic development have far outstripped the sustainable capacity of natural water resources to quench the nation's thirst, causing deterioration of the ecological environment, the committee said.

The river valley must effectively deal with water pollution, water diversion and strengthen conservation, officials said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2006)