Drought hits China: the great Yangtze River dried up

A drought in China has caused the Yangtze River to dry up, causing a shortage of hydropower. A nationwide warning has been issued across the country that the southwest has been particularly hard hit by the heat, with even parts of the mighty Yangtze drying up.

A record drought has dried up some rivers in China, including parts of the Yangtze, affecting the hydropower industry, halting shipping and forcing large companies to suspend operations.

A nationwide drought warning was issued on Friday as a prolonged and severe heatwave in China’s densely populated southwest is forecast to continue into September, The Guardian reports.

The loss of water flow to China’s vast hydroelectric system has caused a “serious situation” in Sichuan province, which gets more than 80% of its energy from hydropower.

On Sunday, the provincial government said the situation was at its highest warning level of “particularly serious danger”, with water flow into Sichuan’s hydroelectric reservoirs halved. Meanwhile, electricity demand has increased by 25% this summer, according to local media.

Last week, the province suspended or limited power supplies to thousands of factories and imposed power rationing in public places due to power shortages. Toyota, Foxconn and Tesla are among the companies that have reportedly suspended work at some factories over the past two weeks. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported on Sunday that plans to resume production this week have been shelved.

The Yangtze is the world’s third largest river, providing drinking water to over 400 million Chinese, and the most important waterway for China’s economy. It’s also critical to the global supply chain, but water levels hit record lows this summer as entire stretches and dozens of tributaries dry up. Navigation routes in the middle and lower reaches of the river were also closed, the press reports.

Authorities in affected regions of China are rushing to secure water and electricity as the region approaches the harvest season for water-intensive crops such as rice and soybeans. On Sunday, authorities drained 980 million cubic meters of water from reservoirs to replenish the lower level of the river, state media reported.

The drought affected at least 2.46 million people and 2.2 million hectares of agricultural land in Sichuan, Hebei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Chongqing. More than 780,000 people are in need of direct government support due to the drought, according to the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Situations. Drinking water is delivered by trucks to areas where supplies to supply homes have completely dried up. The emergency ministry said last week that high temperatures in July alone caused direct economic losses of 2.73 billion yuan ($400 million), affecting 5.5 million people.

In the city of Chongqing, water levels have fallen, revealing previously submerged Buddhist statues that are about 600 years old.

Not only the Chinese Yangtze is suffering. Major rivers around the world are drying up due to devastating record heatwaves, including the Rhine and Loire in Europe and the Colorado River in the US.

Bernice Lee, chairman of the advisory board of the Chatham House sustainability accelerator in London, said societies, including China, remain “unprepared and underprepared” for low-probability major events such as extreme droughts and heat waves.

Chinese authorities have repeatedly linked drought and heat to climate change. Chen Lijuan, chief forecaster for the country’s national climate center, last week called the combined heat wave and drought a “pressure cooker.”

“We have to face the fact that heatwaves like this will happen frequently in the future… this will become the new normal,” Chen says.

However, the direct impact on electricity supplies has put pressure on Beijing’s commitment to climate change. Last week, Vice Premier Han Zheng said the government would step up support for coal-fired electricity generation.

Warnings for continued high temperatures and low rainfall have been issued. A “red heat” warning – the highest alert level – was issued on Sunday for the 10th consecutive day across large swathes of the country.