About 570,000 people in northeast China's Liaoning Province are short of drinking water due to a lingering drought which may threaten agricultural activity in the spring, the local drought relief headquarters said Friday.
The affected population mainly lives in mountainous areas in eastern Liaoning, where more wells have been drilled to alleviate the water shortage, said officials with the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The amount of precipitation received between November 2011 and mid-February this year was 84 percent lower than that of previous years, exacerbating the effects of the drought, the officials said.

Agricultural activity in the cities of Dalian and Yingkou will be affected if more rain isn't received in April, the officials said.

In addition to drilling new wells, the headquarters has sped up repairs and renovations for local irrigation facilities and small reservoirs.

The provincial water resources department plans to divert more water to the Dahuofang Reservoir, located upstream of the provincial capital of Shenyang, so that water supplies for central and southern areas can be guaranteed, the officials said.

Source:mwr.gov