China's biggest freshwater Poyang Lake is reported shrinking its water space by more than 600 square kilometers due to severe dry spells in eastern Jiangxi province this October.

According to the data released by a remote sensing satellite, the total acreage of the main and nearby waters of Poyang Lake amounts to 2,567 sq km by late October, or 617 sq km lesser than what was recorded on Sept. 30.

The Jiangxi provincial observatory ascribed the shrinking of the lake space chiefly to scarce precipitation in localities during October, when the average rainfall was merely four millimeters in Jiangxi, 95 percent lesser than the same period last year.

A large-scale drought has ravaged China's southern and eastern provinces, including Guangdong, Hainan, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region this autumn.

In Jiangxi, the aggregate water stored in all reservoirs are 10.51 billion cubic meters by the end of October, 580 million less than the average of the same period in the past decades. Some 200,000 hectares of cropland has been affected to varying extent by the prolonged dry spells and more than 600,000 locals suffering the shortage of drinking water.

The government departments at all levels in Jiangxi has organized the drought relief effort with active participation of local people, and water sources from neighboring provinces are diverted to make up the water shortage.

(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2004)