Supplies of drinking water in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, will be reduced to four hours a day next month, due to a severe drought that has affected the city for four years, local news portal yunnan.cn reported on Wednesday.

The city's water supplier said it will guarantee a normal supply between 4 pm and 8 pm every day.

At other times, households, particularly those on the outskirt of the city at high altitude or those on the higher floors of tall buildings, will face the problem of insufficient or no water supply, the report said.

The new measure will continue until stocks in the city's reservoirs have increased sufficiently.