Drought affects 250,000 people in Chifeng of Inner Mongolia

CHIFENG, Inner Mongolia, April 10 (Xinhua) -- As a massive drought is plaguing most parts of southwest China, the dry spell is also spreading to many areas of the country's north.

More than 250,000 people are short of drinking water in the sparsely populated Chifeng City of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

More than 272,800 cattle also lack drinking water, an official with the municipal water conservancy bureau told Xinhua Saturday.

The nine major reservoirs in the city of 90,000 square kiloters in territory just hold 91.75 million cubic meters of water, down 73.7 percent from the same time last year.

Adding to the woe, 62 percent of the city's mid- and small-sized reservoirs have dried up, the official said.

Major rivers also see a decrease of 77.4 percent in water volume.

Even though Chifeng city has suffered from successive years of drought since 1999, this year's has been the gravest in the past decade, the official said.

The government has mobilized more than 626,300 people in the drought relief work, with more than 30.33 million yuan (about 4.46 million U.S. dollars) of special-use fund, the official said.