China’s rivers dry up amid its worst drought on record

For more than two months, China has been grappling with its worst heatwave in over 60 years. The record-breaking temperatures and severe drought have dented energy and water supplies for millions across the country and stoked fears of a devastating economic downturn. In this image, People sit in a shallow pool of water in the riverbed of the Jialing River, a tributary of the Yangtze, in southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality. (AP Photo)

On Tuesday morning, the country issued a red alert heat warning — the highest of its four-tier warning system — to at least 165 cities and counties across the country. (AP)

Here, cracked dry mud is seen in a community reservoir that ran nearly empty after its retaining wall started to leak and hot weather and drought conditions accelerated the loss of water in Longquan village in southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality. (AP)

Last week, the country issued its first national drought alert of the year, after areas like Shanghai, the Yangtze Delta region and Sichuan province in southwest China reported weeks of severe heat. About 2.2 m hectare of agricultural land has been affected in Sichuan, Chongqing, Hebei, Hunan, Anhui and Jiangxi. (AP)

In this image, people float in the Yangtze River near bridge support columns that show previous water levels in Chongqing. (AP)

The drought has also adversely impacted shipping. The Yangtze, the world’s third largest river, is one of China’s central waterways. It also provides water to over 400 million Chinese people. This summer, water has dropped to record levels, posing a threat to the global supply chain as well as limiting the water supply for millions of Chinese people. (AP)

In this aerial photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Luoxingdun Island is seen in the dried lake bed of Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, in eastern China's Jiangxi Province on Aug. 17, 2022. (AP)

In some parts of southwest and central China, including Hubei, authorities are attempting to induce rainfall through ‘cloud seedings’ — a process through which rockets carry chemicals into the sky to induce rainfall in drought-affected regions. However, in areas lacking cloud cover, authorities have struggled with this method. (AP)