The Yangtze River Hydrological Bureau said that, in August, the volume of water entering the Three Gorges Reservoir, in the middle reaches of the river, was only 8,400 cubic meters per second, about the same as the February dry season.

The bureau's monitoring station in Yichang City, Hubei Province, home to the Three Gorges Reservoir, said the local hydrological figure set a new low record.

River navigation authorities have reinforced patrols and assistance operations along the waterway, warning vessels against running aground. Flood control experts say that the river's flood season will end in a month. Despite the current drought, summer or even autumn flooding is still a possibility.

Weather forecasts offer little hope of rainfall in the next few days in the upper and middle reaches of the river, including Sichuan Province, Hubei Province and Chongqing Municipality, where farming is suffering from the blistering drought.

Southwest China's Chongqing is suffering the worst drought of the past 50 years. Water supplies for nearly 7.5 million people have been threatened, local authorities said yesterday.

To date, more than 1.3 million hectares of cropland have been affected and more than 6.8 million head of livestock are facing temporary water shortages, a spokesman with the Chongqing Disaster Relief Office said.

"Two-thirds of the communities and townships in the municipality have reported water supply difficulties," he said.

The drought has caused direct economic losses of about 2.5 billion yuan (US$312.5 million).

The drought struck Chongqing in early July, 10 to 15 days earlier than in past years. But in total, the dry spell has lasted for more than 50 days in most areas in the municipality, and 70 days in some, the spokesman said.

Since July, there have been 13 to 24 high temperature days in most parts of Chongqing, with maximum temperatures of 38 to 40 degrees Celsius, he said.

High temperatures and scarce rain have dried out two-thirds of the rivers in the municipality, said a spokesman with the Chongqing Waterway Bureau.

In neighboring Sichuan Province, the drought has caused water shortages for more than 3 million people and 4 million head of livestock. "Sichuan is suffering its worst drought since 1972," said Zhang Shilin, director of the office responsible for artificially influencing weather.