First nationwide drought warning in 9 years is issued by China

• The alert is the third-highest on China’s four-tier scale.
• It indicates that at least two provinces are facing drought-like conditions, and more dry weather or drought is expected.
• About 830,000 people across six provinces have had their water supplies affected by drought.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources, the drought has damaged the water supplies of around 830,000 people in six provinces as of Wednesday. More than 300,000 individuals are temporarily having trouble even getting access to drinking water. There are a lot of people affected, yet only a small portion of China’s 1.4 billion inhabitants.

The most affected provinces are those in southern and central China, particularly those that border the Yangtze River, such Jiangsu, Hubei, and Sichuan. Local officials have been urged to limit agricultural, commercial, and industrial use while conserving water for home use. Additionally, authorities are attempting to seed clouds with raindrops.

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According to a water ministry official, the drought has harmed more than 2 million acres of agricultural across six provinces. The intense heat has increased demand for air conditioning in homes and businesses, straining the electrical grid. The amount of electricity generated by hydropower facilities has decreased as a result of the drought’s effect on river water levels.

Since July, Sichuan, a province with 84 million residents, has been plagued by intense heat and drought. To alleviate power shortages brought on by the heat, Sichuan officials ordered enterprises to close for six days on Wednesday.

One of the world’s largest producers of semiconductors and solar panels, including Intel and Foxconn, may be impacted by the power restrictions in the area, according to experts.

The world’s second-largest economy, which is already suffering from the impact of its tight Covid-19 lockdowns and a real estate crisis, has been cautioned by economists that the severe temperatures could further hurt it. Both financial services company Nomura and investment bank Goldman Sachs reduced their predictions for China’s GDP growth this year, blaming the heat wave among other factors.

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