More than 160,000 people in northeast China's Liaoning Province are suffering from drinking water shortages due to the ongoing drought that began in June, the provincial water resources department said on Monday.

The drought has also caused a drinking water shortage for 66,700 livestock.

Thirty-eight small reservoirs have dried up in the western regions of Liaoning including Chaoyang, Fuxin, Jinzhou and Huludao.

Crops on 400,000 hectares of farmland are affected, including 10,000 hectares that are ruined.

The province has raised 11 million yuan (about US$1.6 million) and mobilized 230,000 people to combat the drought.

(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2009)