The third longest river facing a drought by Martina Harvanova

The third longest river in the world, Yangtze River, situated in China has been swamped recently. The latest notice is reporting that river which stretches 6,300 km from west to east is facing serious problems due to the extensive drought. The deteriorating situation has started to become more apparent since October. As some locals noticed this year's drought is rare and they added, "just days ago, we saw ship after ship running around. We have never seen that before." Pictures of the Yangtze are definitely frightening, such as the one with a bridge leading to a tourist ferry, whose surrounding of a nearly dried-up area of the river doesn't foretell any improvement the next days. Although the droughts are quite common, the current conditions last too long and they seem to be too substantial. The reports assume the causes for the drying-up Yangtze River shouldn't have anything to do with the storage in the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam. Mainly an exceptionally dry winter that has come a month earlier than usual together with the low rainfall in the upper reaches of the river were the major factors behind the drought, according to the officials. Yangtze River has traditionally been considered a dividing line between North and South China. It is deemed a main source of drinking water for the majority of China's population. Therefore the consequences of the current crisis can reach high rate of danger. The Yangtze is as well home to (at least) two critically endangered species: The Chinese Alligator and the Chinese Paddlefish. A year ago the Chinese River Dolphin was facing extinction, because of the poor results of a research; however, one was sighted soon after. By any means, the situation doesn't look very flattering. The droughts that have broken records from the Yangtze history prove the menace of the case. Such a low level of water hasn't been reported in China since 1866. Hopefully, the largely spread China will solve this issue rapidly not causing even broader difficulties to its inhabitants.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080117/ts_afp/chinaenvironmentdroughtyangtze_080117045958;_ylt=AvVPDRy4jLZjdLeFqo_UpOOs0NUE

by Martina Harvanova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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