Witness villagers' life in drought-hit Napo County of Guangxi Province

Emergency water supply project begins

The water resources brought to the Longhe Township is from Shanhe Village of Pohe Township, which is dozens of kilometers away. "The underground water was originally used for irrigating the farmland. But because of the lack of water, Longhe Township started to use it for its water supply in February this year." Shanhe Village's head told reporters, pointing to the breach where the underground water flows out of at the foot of the mountain. The underground water which was used for irrigation is the main water resource for Napo Township.

The clear water was pumped through a pipe into the water truck. "There are six buckets in every truck, with every bucket containing 1.6 tons of water. At the beginning, several trucks were filled without interruption, but now, the water cuts off twice when pumped. There is less and less underground water," said the village head in a worried voice.

Every household in Longhe Township has a pool and the largest one is six meters deep and 60 meters in diameter, supplying water for several organizations and enterprises in the township. The largest pool had dried up before reporters arrived, giving off the stench of moss. The local people said that the pool had dried up during 2010 Spring Festival.

On March 21, the project called "Nama Emergency Water Supply Project" by the local water resource department began on the creek beside the zigzagging road, which is 10 kilometers away from Napo Township. Yesterday, workers were still concentrating on excavating the watercourse and installing pipes. "The project stretches 10 kilometers and is expected to be finished in 10 days. It will supply a daily water consumption of 5,000 cubic meters for the entire township, meeting our basic water needs," said a leader from the Napo County Water Conservancy Bureau.

"Then what about the village areas? Can you take the example of Yunnan province to chisel the mountain to obtain water?" asked a reporter. The staff from Napo County shook his head and said, "The mountains here are all made of stone so we do not have any other water resources at all, except for the creek and the rain."