A prolonged drought has left 240,000 people and 110,000 head of livestock without adequate drinking water in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said Saturday.

The rural mountainous areas in western and northwestern Guangxi have been facing a lack of rainfall since August last year, said a spokesman with the regional flood control and drought relief headquarters.

"Local governments have been sending water trucks to those villages that suffer severe shortages," he said.

Nevertheless, the situation is still less than optimistic as some local villagers said they sometimes had to walk about three km to fetch water or buy water in towns.

"We are organizing local residents to dig wells and divert water from elsewhere to the drought-hit areas," the spokesman said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2010)