Focus

Rain fails to ease water problems

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-30 07:49

Children line up to use a water source in Zhang Jijun's school in the drought-hit Mouding county, Yunnan province. Provided to China Daily

Editor's note: In March, Southwest China was hit by a drought that affected at least 23 million.

Nine months after drinking water supplies dried up in the worst drought to hit China in five decades, children in remote areas are still struggling to get enough clean water.

Zhang Jijun, a teacher in a mountain town in Yunnan province's Mouding county, said the only supply for the 76 students at his primary school is a dirty nearby reservoir, where villagers wash their clothes and cattle.

The school has only six teachers and not enough fuel to boil large quantities of water. Bouts of diarrhea are common, he said.

"The reservoir water leaves a deposit in the cup. We can't do anything about it except warn students not to drink it," said the 29-year-old teacher. "Sometimes we disinfect the water with bleaching powder, but only once a week at most.

"Five or six students have to wash their face in one basin every morning, but at least they have water to wash their face," he added. "Last spring we didn't even have enough to drink."

Yunnan gets an average of 1,200 millimeters of rain every year. However, 80 percent of that comes during the wet season, May to October, leaving residents vulnerable to shortages during summer dry spells.

Of the province's 889 rivers and 30 lakes, 70 percent are in remote and impoverished areas, with more than 80 percent of its towns and cities located in geographical basins. Although large-scale water conservation facilities have been built near urban areas, smaller projects in rural areas like water cellars and reservoirs have been allowed to fall into ruin.

Mouding government repaired the village's reservoir this summer to hold more rainwater, as well as built his school a cellar to store water pumped from the reservoir, said Zhang.

Authorities also provide the school with 900 kilograms of rice to help families whose crops failed this year due to the drought.

"It began to rain in May, so the drought is eased. The biggest problem now is we don't have clean water," said the teacher.

Peng Yining

To read the original story, visit: www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-01/20/content_9345823.htm