Nothing like reviving an old thread from August 2012 for the sake of boredom.

Uhhh... I think the question is just as important to ask now as it was in August 2012 HFCAMPO. I don't know whether to keep telling people Yunnan/Kunming is still in a drought or not and would like to know what officials say or what other people think. As it fits under the same heading as a previously started thread, its probably best to have it all together so people can read the progression over time. That's the way most forums work. Don't be so grumpy huh?

Our neighbourhood's running water was cut off again today. We rang the Water Company and they said water pressure had been reduced again. As we are up a hill, we get nothing. Buckets back on the roof and pray for rain....

Sorry to hear about your water problems Ocean..

In my opinion I'd say the drought is over.
Some of our paragliding landing zones were grassy sediment flats in empty water reservoirs, this year the water levels are high therefore grassy areas are very small or non existent.
Traveling around rural areas I noticed most reservoirs were full.

On the other hand consumption has increased in many ways. in recent years farmers use gasoline powered water pumps to irrigate fields which used to be irrigated by buckets..

Interesting discussion all. Wanted to weigh in here as I research water management in Yunnan. From my perspective there are many factors contributing to what is technically a "drought". Population growth, industrial needs, agricultural needs (tobacco, the most profitable industry in the province is highly water consumptive - note water use and consumption are different), and mismanagement (over irrigating crops, under the table allocation) are all contributing elements.

In my opinion there is one key contributing factor that has not been discussed which has been crucial to the water shortages we now have (due to a decline in rainfall) in the center of the province. *note, HFCAMPO is right, look at rainfall patterns spatially rather than numbers for the whole province, there has been a decline in the dry areas in recent years*

That is deforestation.

Some great reporting done by ChinaDialogue on the issue here: www.chinadialogue.net/[...]

Deforestation contributes in two ways:

One, by removing original forest and re-planting with monocrop trees (or nothing at all) rainfall no longer slowly moves through the soil. A balanced ecosystem will hold rainfall like a water tower in the soil and gradually release that water into rivers. As soil drys, water passes through rapidly, causing flash floods and making irrigation access difficult.

Two, fewer trees means less evapotranspirated water into the atmosphere, which means rainfall patterns change. I hypothesize that that element has greatly altered the amount of rain the "drought" ridden parts of the province now receive. Rainfall will vary year to year, but I would not be surprised if the next 20 years we see less rainfall in these drought areas than in the past 20.

Anyway, deforestation is just part of a large management problem. It would be nice to see demand-side water conservation incentives rather than simple rationing (as we all fill buckets before the water turns off anyway, neutralizing the rationing effort) and many of the points you all brought up above. Just thought I would raise your attention to yet another environmental issue.

Jianghuanbao!

Deforestation is no doubt a contributing factor.

Jianghuanbao!????

So much rain in autumn, guess the drought problem is solved.