China to drill more wells as drought persists

BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) said Saturday it would assemble more than 1,100 engineers and workers from across the country to dig over 1,600 wells in the country's southwest, where a severe drought is likely to continue.

All of those professionals would be arriving at the droughty areas by April 1 and the first batch set off on Saturday, said the MLR in a statement on its website.

More than 1,600 wells would be drilled, providing 200,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day for 2 million people and 1 million head of livestock, said the ministry, hoping to finish digging 1,400 of the wells by May 10.

So far, the MLR has already dug over 100 wells, which can produce drinking water for more than 100,000 people.

The drought, which has left southwest China suffering since last Autumn, would likely continue till May as no substantial rainfall was expected ahead of the rainy season, according to meteorological agencies.

It has left 18 million residents and 11.7 million heads of livestock in the region with drinking water shortages and caused direct economic losses of 23.7 billion yuan (3.5 billion U.S. dollars), data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed.