Two children play in a dried-up pool at Xiniushi Village in Daying County of Suining City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Aug. 13, 2006. Most areas of Sichuan Province have been suffering from month-long drought and searing heat. Local governments have allocated funds to help residents fight against drought by tapping ground water and improving water conservation facilities. (Xinhua Photo) 

Searing heat and the worst drought to hit parts of China in 50 years have left millions of people facing drinking water shortages and at least one person dead, and are challenging the country's power and water supply networks.

A 30-year-old tourist died of heatstroke in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. In the southwestern municipality of Chongqing alone, more than 7.5 million people are suffering water shortages. In remote areas people are relying on water being transported from the towns and rationed on arrival.

Children cool off in a fountain at Shanghai's People's Square Sunday as the temperature topped 38.6 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest day so far this year.(Photo: Shanghai Daily)

The daily water consumption in Shanghai has hit 10.005 million cubic meters over the past few days, the highest in history. The maximum water supply of the city stands at 10.96 million cubic meters.
The water supply network in Shanghai faces "great pressure" for such a massive demand, said sources with the municipal bureau of water resources on Wednesday.

The sources said Shanghai has built five waterworks to supply 700,000 more cubic meters of water every day.

Hangzhou, capital of rich eastern Zhejiang Province, was forced to resort to a blackout on Tuesday, the first for this summer, to avoid the breakdown of a power transmission line in the eastern part of the city, the local power supply administration confirmed on Wednesday.

With temperatures nudging 38 degrees Celsius on Monday and Tuesday, the city's electricity consumption reached a record 5.91 million kilowatt-hours, up 23 percent over the same period last year.

The Hangzhou power grid is facing a power shortage of 250,000 kilowatts and has little chance of buying electricity from neighboring provinces that are struggling to provide for themselves.

Passengers enjoy the coolness brought by buckets of ice in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Aug. 16, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)

In Chongqing Municipality, where the temperature exceeded 40 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, many businesses have been told to suspend production in the afternoon and at night to ease pressure on the power supply network.

The scorching weather and drought will continue in most parts of central and southwestern China with meteorologists forecasting little rainfall over the next three days.

In Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, temperatures topped 39 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, the central meteorological station reported.

    Searing heat and drought have created problems for the supply of drinking water in Chongqing and Hunan Province, leaving about 7.8 million people thirsty.

More than 7.5 million people in 40 counties in Chongqing have been panting for drinking water since severe drought started in mid May.

Workers brave the heat to repair an electrical transformer in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Aug. 16, 2006. The city's infrastructure is challenged by sustained scorching weather as temperatures reach up to 40 degrees Celsius. (Xinhua Photo)

"The village well has dried up and even the dusty water at the bottom has been scooped up," said Gu Qixiu, a villager in Zhangguan town, Yubei District. "The townsfolk have been sending us water wagons and each family gets two buckets of water a day."

Gu said the arid cropland is unlikely to yield a cent this year. "Even sweet potatoes refuse to grow in the arid land."

"This is the worst drought to hit Chongqing in 50 years," said He Lingyun, a disaster relief official with the municipal government. "Two-thirds of the local rivers and lakes have dried up and more than 200 reservoirs are stagnant."

The water level in the Chongqing section of the Yangtze River, China's longest waterway, dropped to 3.5 meters on Aug. 12, an all-time low since Yangtze hydrological data became available in 1892.

Drinking water shortages have affected another 270,000 people in central China's Hunan Province, where the mercury has been flirting with 40 degrees Celsius over the past few days.

Editor: Yan