A severe water shortage has hit Aoqian town in Pingtan, Fujian province, local media reported on Jan 19.

The dried up Yujing Water Reservoir in Aoqian Town, Pingtan county in East China’s Fujian province. Lingering droughts have resulted in a severe water shortage for villagers in the town. [Photo/pingtan.gov.cn]

The supply of drinking water has been halted since last August due to lingering drought, affecting residents in 20 villages, said Weng Bin, deputy Party Secretary of Aoqian.

Currently the villagers have to pump water from wells by themselves. They have filed complaints to the media yet the predicament still haunts them.

“Water has become as precious as oil,” said Zheng Zhangfa, an 82-year-old villager who now gets up before 5 am to fetch water from a well.

Lin Qing, from Zhongjia Village, claimed that he collected water as early as one o’clock in the morning amid concerns that the water would be cloudy later in the day.

The worst is that even the well water is about to run out.

“We have only a well, and all of us are relying on it. We don’t wash clothes and take baths a lot because we worry about the storage,” said a woman at Dongguang Village.

The water shortage is due to the dried-up Yujing Water Reservoir which used to provide drinking water for residents in Aoqian, authorities said.

Two villagers, with a few buckets, are on their way to fetch water from a well in Aoqian Town, Pingtan county in East China’s Fujian province. [Photo/pingtan.gov.cn]

The authorities have taken up a series of measures to cope with the problem, including transferring water from the urban area and digging more wells, said Li Ping, deputy director of the administrative body of Aoqian District.

He added that now residents in Aoqian have a short period of time for drinking water every other day.

A water plant with a capacity of 100,000 tons every day is being planned for Aoqian to quench the villages’ thirst for a more stable water supply, he said.