China, record heat and drought: Poyang Lake dried up

(LaPresse) Weeks of record heat and drought have nearly dried up Poyang Lake, China’s largest freshwater reservoir, leaving the surrounding areas-where rice is grown-with a severe shortage of water. Satellite images released by the Ministry of Natural Resources showed that Poyang Lake has shrunk to about 600 square kilometers from nearly 4,000 square kilometers in April. Jiangxi is one of China’s 13 major grain-producing provinces, and the area around Poyang Lake is the province’s main rice-producing area. According to local authorities, the lake’s water level continues to drop and rice yields are at stake this year due to drought. Local authorities are helping farmers create pipelines to channel water from reservoirs by digging wells to pump underground water to alleviate drought in rice fields. China has been hit by record high monthly temperatures in large parts of the country, along with droughts that have severely reduced hydropower production. According to experts, the main cause is related to global warming.

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