A prolonged drought in south China's Hunan Province has left around 1.45 million people and 700,000 livestock short of drinking water, sources with the provincial water resources department said on Tuesday.

Scant rainfall and warm weather since spring this year have dried up 904 reservoirs and 240,000 ponds in the province, and more than 1,700 rivers are underfed with water, said Zhang Shuofu, director of the department.

In the provincial capital Changsha, 160,000 residents, mostly living in rural villages, are facing water shortages. Many rivers have run dry, leaving dead shellfish and dried weeds protruding from river beds.

Residents in rural villages in Longhui County, Shaoyang city of central Hunan, have to walk three kilometers to fetch water from another village. In the Guangrong village in the neighboring Xinning County, 600 villagers are using horses to carry in water from a fountain in the mountains.

The drought has also affected one million hectares of cropland, Zhang said, adding high temperatures in the coming few days will exacerbate the drought.

The provincial government has ordered several reservoirs to suspend generating electricity to save water. Local governments are working to trigger artificial rain and fire rockets to boost rainfall. They are calling on residents to dig wells to combat the water shortage.

According to earlier statistics issued by the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, severe drought has left 7.53 million people short of drinking water in east, south and northeastern provinces and regions.

China has experienced severe floods and drought this year and more than 700 people have been killed by lightning, landslides and floods this summer.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2007)