Over 3 million facing drinking water shortage in China

More than three million people are facing acute shortage of drinking water due to a persistent drought in southwest China which has affected more than 17 million people in 1,311 towns.
There was a partial relief from the lingering drought in Guizhou Province due to rainfall in the past two days, state-run news agency Xinhua reported yesterday.
The provincial meteorological authorities said that the rainfall in the next three days will give some relief from the drought, but its affect will continue till the end of the coming week.
1.34 million hectares of farmland have been affected by the drought with about 1.49 million cattle facing scarcity of drinking water, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said.

The provincial civil affairs department has allocated 98.75 million yuan for relief efforts.
According to initial calculations, the drought has caused economic losses of about USD 1.56 billion (9.54 billion yuan), the report said.