The Drought in Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces Accelerates.... Water Is Distributed By Tickets

No Rain for Half a year, the Drought in Southwest of Guizhou Province（http://bbs.163.com/）

Since July 2009 there has been a continuous drought in several provinces in Southwest China, including Yunnan and Guizhou, which has not occurred in decades. The crops in a large area are ruined completely. Tens of millions of people even have trouble getting drinking water. 

The map of drought as of March 15, 2010, released by National Meteorological Center of China: The darker the color, the more severe the drought; Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau looks blood-soaked

According to a report from the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, it is a record drought the likes of which have not occurred in the previous six decades in Yunnan Province. While in Guizhou Province, the drought last fall lasted through winter and is considered to be the most severe in eight decades. Especially in the middle and southwest area, the drought is the worst in one hundred years.   
 
No Rain for Half a year, the Drought in Southwest of Guizhou Province （http://bbs.163.com/）

In the Rare Drought, Villagers Have to Get Water With Tickets. 

Take for example several villages that are in dire need of water, such as in Fucun Town (the name of the village means “Rich”) and Heinitang Village (translation: Black Mud Pond) of Fuyuan County (translation: Rich in Resources), Yunnan Province. The villagers in Fucun Town have to get water by using tickets. Every morning residents line up to get water. They hand in a ticket worth 100 kiloliters water. The local officials explain, “The situation is as such. We have to use this method of getting water with tickets. Otherwise, if the restaurant owners in the town come to get the water, they will take several thousand kilos all at once and there will not be enough left for everyone” At present, many restaurants in the town are closed because of a lack of water. 
 
A rare drought appeared in Yunnan Province since the end of last year.
Local residents line up for water.

Fighting the Drought with All Their Efforts, the Farmers Abandon Crops to Establish Water cellars.

According to the locals, the main water supply of Fucun Town is mainly from the Yizuo Reservoir about 6 kilometers away. It has a capacity of 400,000 cubic meters. However, since January 2009, due to the consistently higher temperatures, and little rain, the water in the reservoir was used up by the end of last November.  
 
A villager of Yunnan Province squatting at the bottom of his water cellar

Three villages located deep in the mountains had no water supply by the end of last year. There is no water source within a kilometer. In the past, villagers knew that water used in the late autumn and winter came from water stored in their water cellars. About 95% of the cellars are now dry.

The drought has devastated all the spring crops. The villagers have no choice but to abandon the crops and put all their efforts in the construction of small water cellars.

The Rampant Drought Devastates the Life and Economy of Yunnan and Guizhou

According to statistics, the drought caused a shortage of drinking water for 7.8 million people and 4.8 million livestock in Yunnan Province. The direct loss in agriculture is 17.27 billion yen. In Guizhou Province, nearly five million people and over two million livestock have a temporary shortage of drinking water. The southwest area of Guizhong, Liu Panshui City, Bijie Area, and the southern area of Guizhou suffer the most. The area of crops affected in Guizhou Province is over two million acres, about 60% of the sown summer crops.

Low Efficiency of Water Usage and Too Many Dangerous Reservoirs

When addressing the drought, Bai Enpei, the Communist Party Secretary of Yunnan Province said the water usage in Yunnan is not efficient. The water resources of the province rank number three in the whole country, yet the water usage efficiency is only 6%, while nationwide it is above 16%. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the infrastructure of irrigation and water conservancy.

According to the data of the Water Resource Department of Guizhou Province, there are over 1900 small reservoirs, all constructed in the 1950’s and 1960’s. They have been running for a long time without proper maintenance. Hence, many of them carry a great deal of risk.

Reasons given by Netizens for the Drought

A netizen nick-named “Who Are the People’s Mouthpiece” raised some doubts about the incompleteness of water projects and said, “Grievances have a reason, and debts have its creditors. The abnormal climate is due to the people on this land violating the rules of nature.”

A comment from “Ten Sheep Nine Grazing” said, “The Wrath of Heaven and Complaints of People. ”

Netizen “Friend of Freedom” revealed, “Apart from no rain, there are human factors leading to the drought. Two years ago during the economic crisis, the state government put a lot of money toward the construction of infrastructure, including water projects. Many local government officials in Yunnan grabbed the opportunity to ask for grants. They emptied the reservoirs last year for reconstruction. However, it didn’t rain last year, so now it’s a drought.”

The Southwest area used to be the “Country of Fish and Rice”; now ecological refugees emerge

Some people posted on the web the following information: In some places, students stopped living in dormitories and commute everyday. In many more places, there is no single bucket of water in the surrounding five kilometers. Drinking water can only be obtained by it being transported into the area at a high cost. The crown of Yunnan, once known as the province with the most lavish water resources, is now an irony just like the Communist Party’s saying “Our motherland is vast and ample with resources.” How many people in China know exactly how serious the drought in Yunnan is?
 
The slogan on the wall says, “As long as science advances, a devastated land can be revived,” as if to say, “The more we dare, the more the land will yield.”

A statement of extreme scientism

Netizen “White Horse Is No Horse” pointed out what the drought could bring to Chinese society: “The drought in Yunnan shows us that the model of development by over drafting resources for the future has come to the breaking point and cannot go on. When many people were hailing the construction of new Kunming, they never realized the surrounding villages would be suffering the worst drought in a hundred years. The ecological refugees are coming closer and closer to us. We ought to bear in mind that Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, the leaders of the uprising at the end of Ming Dynasty, were, to a large extent, ecological refugees. On the one hand it is the prosperous urban economy. On the other hand, it is the withering rural economy. When China is at the verge of an ecological refugee tide, will the urban dwellers keep calm? What is the problem with China’s development? That’s something we should consider very carefully. If the drought in Yunnan can be used to change China’s development model back to the right track, then the suffering of 40 million people in Yunnan could turn out to be a contribution to the country’s future. 

No Rain for Half a year, the Drought in Southwest of Guizhou Province （ http://bbs.163.com/）