The drought, which has dried up more than 16 million hectares of farmland and impeded seasonal agricultural activities, prompted high-level provincial officials from the eight major grain production bases -- Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Jilin, Henan, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu -- to gather in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong Province on Monday to discuss ways to deal with the plight. .

At the meeting, Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu urged local government officials to take effective measures to deal with water shortages during the spring ploughing season.

Hui said crop yields could be negatively effected, considering anti-drought efforts were likely to be hindered in parts of the country as a result of persistent drought and falling water levels in many rivers, which has resulted in lower reservoir reserves.

Hui stressed that anti-drought measures require timely financial, material and technical support to aid farmers, and water saving and rationing should be strictly carried out.

In Shandong Province, one of the most thirsty provinces in China, the drought has dried up more than 1 million hectares of farmland, leaving 6.25 million people without adequate supplies of drinking water, while 50 large enterprises have had to shut down temporarily due to the water shortage, said Han Yuqun, acting governor of Shandong.

Located along the upper reaches of the Yellow River, Gansu also suffered a severe drought this spring, which has caused the water level along the upper reaches of the Yellow River to drop to a 50-year low.

The water shortage has further spread to southern China, where the Yangtze River's water level dropped to the lowest point in 16 years.

Furthermore, environmental pollution caused by inadequate sewage treatment has aggravated the country's water crisis.

To ease the water shortage, thousands of water-saving wells have been built in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Water-saving irrigation facilities have been widely promoted in the areas along the Yellow River, experts with the Ministry of Water Resources said.

The South-to-North Water Transfer project which began in December aims to divert water from the Yangtze River to China's parched northern regions, throwing a lifeline to the fast-growing economy and relieving the acute water shortage in key cities such as Beijing and Tianjin.

However, despite the hefty investment and initiatives thus far, analysts say China must think less about structures and more about ways to make people use water more efficiently.

"It's time to shift resources to eco-restoration to try to solve the problem in a more sustainable way instead of simply relying on more huge water projects,'' said Hou Yongzhi, an official with the Development Research Center under the State Council.

(China Daily March 27, 2003)