China's Extreme Drought Even Makes Yangtze River Water Shrink

Illustration of the Yangtze River in abundance (Photo by White.Rainforest ∙ 易雨白林. on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - A record-breaking drought has caused several rivers in China – including parts of the Yangtze – to dry up. This shrinking of the river affected hydropower and forced large companies to suspend operations.

The government issued a national drought warning due to a prolonged and severe heat wave in southwest China. Even this densely populated area is expected to experience drought until September.

Quoted from the Guardian, Monday, August 22, the loss of water flow to China's vast hydroelectric power system has triggered a serious situation in Sichuan, which gets more than 80 percent of its energy from hydroelectricity.

On Sunday, the local government released the highest warning level of "very severe" with water flow to the Sichuan hydroelectric dam falling by half. Electricity demand has increased 25 percent this summer.

The reduction in hydropower has also reportedly affected downstream populations, including the city of Chongqing and Hubei province.

Last week Sichuan suspended or limited electricity supply to thousands of factories and rationed public electricity use because of the shortage. Toyota, Foxconn, and Tesla are among the companies reported to have temporarily suspended operations at several plants over the past two weeks.

The Yangtze is the third largest river in the world, provides drinking water to more than 400 million Chinese people, and is the most vital waterway for China's economy. It's also important to global supply chains, but this summer it has hit its lowest water level, with entire sections and dozens of tributaries drying up.