Chongqing- China's National Meteorological Centre has issued a red temperature alert for the fifth consecutive day as extreme heat persists despite having entered the early stages of autumn. Data provided by the NMC shows that temperatures reached 37 degrees Celcius across inland regions of China, including Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces, while Fengjie County in Chongqing recorded a high of 44.4 degrees. In total, sixty-eight weather stations across the nation have recorded their highest temperatures ever.

According to Xinhua News, a series of measures have been taken in China to ensure the water supply and residents' health and security.

On Aug. 12, China earmarked 200 million yuan (about 29.47 million U.S. dollars) to support drought relief and the transfer of emergency water supplies in eight provincial-level regions, including Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, and Ningxia.

Work groups and agricultural technicians have been sent to major food-producing provinces and regions hard-hit by heatwaves and drought to provide disaster relief supplies and technological guidance.

Local authorities also stepped up efforts. Chongqing has dispatched mobile water supply vehicles and drought relief teams to villages, while its neighboring province, Hubei, has diverted nearly 5.6 billion cubic meters of water for irrigation and pooled over 610 million yuan of drought relief funds.

Urban parks and green spaces are being watered up to five hours daily to prevent withering as the heatwave is forecast to continue for one week to ten days. Persistently high temperatures and lack of rainfall have impacted water levels and power generation.

The Yangtze has fallen to unprecedented levels during the traditional rainy season as the extreme heatwave continues. (iChongqing file photo)

In Southern China, the severe drought is currently affecting large areas, according to China's Ministry of Water Resources. As the traditional rainy season has been replaced by unprecedented drought, the Yangtze River, Dongting, and Poyang Lake levels have reached historic lows up to 6 centimeters below the yearly average.

On August 16, the Yangtze Water Resources Commission announced instructions for the Three Gorges Dam to release an additional 500 million cubic meters of water over five days, a measure designed to relieve the low water levels in the middle and lower reaches. In the meantime, no significant rainfall is forecast over the next week, meaning the difficult challenges faced due to arid weather conditions are set to persist.

Prolonged hot and arid conditions have affected water supplies for some communities, such as Xikou Township on the border between Sichuan and Chongqing, where deliveries have been organized for people living in mountainous areas.

Meanwhile, over 1.5 million acres of farmland and livestock suffer from drought conditions across six provinces, including Sichuan, Chongqing, and Hubei, where the Ministry of Water Resources has dispatched three work teams to help guide effective responses such as irrigation.

In response to energy shortages encountered at peak times amid heightened demand, some places like West China's Sichuan Province issued notifications for high power consumption factories, instructing them to release capacity for civilian usage during peak hours.

Experts said that the electricity demand keeps soaring due to high temperature, which pushes high the electricity consumption at peak hours; governments' measures to guide users to shift away from peak time usage of electricity can relieve the pressure of peak demand. 

An extra 500 million cubic meters of water are being released from the Three Gorges Reservoir to ensure levels are replenished downriver. (iChongqing file photo)

Such action has resulted from the dual factors of summer heat and economic recovery, which have greatly increased the demands on traditional coal-powered electricity plants, which also need to make up a considerable shortfall caused by reduced output from hydroelectric dams as water levels continue to dwindle.

Over the first half of August, the daily consumption of coal nationwide increased by 15% yearly to average a record 8.16 million tons. In response, China's National Development and Reform Commission has made strategic deployments to ensure the power supply meets demand at peak times, including measures to increase coal supplies, ensure efficient transportation, and make contractual agreements for coal provision in the medium to long term.