Water level of China's second-largest freshwater lake drops during main flood season

CHANGSHA, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Dongting, China's second-largest freshwater lake, located in central China's Hunan Province, has reported a lower water level compared to that in many past years during the 2023 main flood season, according to local authorities on Wednesday.

As of 8 a.m. on Wednesday, the water area of the lake measured about 830 square kilometers. It is only 35 percent of the average water area of the lake in the same period of other years.

In 2022, Hunan suffered its worst drought since it started keeping meteorological records in 1961. Some areas experienced continuous drought in summer, autumn and winter, which meant that the dry season of the lake lasted 305 days and only ended in early June.

Statistics from the water conservancy department show that as of 8 a.m. on Wednesday, the accumulated precipitation in Hunan this year amounted to 769.4 mm, which is 12.7 percent less than the average amount in the same period of many previous years.

The water level at the lake's landmark Chenglingji hydrological station was recorded at 25.26 meters on Wednesday morning, 4.75 meters lower than the same period last year.

According to the Hunan Dongting Lake water conservancy affairs center, compared with the total area of Dongting Lake in terms of conventional statistics, nearly 70 percent of the water area of the lake is now exposed shore.