Zhang Shuhu sent his bucket down the family's water cellar five times, and got about 15 kilograms of muddy water.

"I don't remember when I took my last bath -- certainly not after the summer drought began in May," he said.

For nearly two months, Zhang's family in northwest China's Gansu Province tried to save every drop of water.

"We all wash our hands and faces with one small basin of water -- and save whatever is left for the pigs."

The family has three cellars where rainwater is stored to sustain the household for a year, but the other two dried up in early spring.

Their home city of Dingxi is known as the thirstiest place in China. The summer drought hitting most part of Gansu Province since May has left 230,000 people short of drinking water.

Zhang's home was destroyed in last year's quake that devastated Sichuan and parts of Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. With a 25,000 yuan (US$3,571) government subsidy, he was able to buy all the building materials he needed. But without water, his new home is still half-done and has no roof.

"I had wanted to find a temporary job in the city when the new home was completed. Now I'm stuck here waiting for the rain," he said on Friday.

In the neighboring village of Shixiawan, nearly all water cellars have dried up and more than 3,000 residents are in dire thirst. Most of them have to carry water from downtown, for 5 yuan per tonne, plus 80 yuan in transportation cost for each trip.

The drought is threatening 1.05 million hectares of cropland across Gansu Province, largely potatoes, corn, wheat and peas.

Drought, accompanied by heatwave, is also plaguing other parts of western China, including Shaanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia and Tibet. In Gansu Province, the average temperature of June was higher by about three degrees Celsius than normal. Some cities reported the highest temperature in 50 years.

China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has forecast rain in these arid areas in the coming 10 days.

Heatwave also continued in north China on Friday. The high temperature in Beijing hovered at 37 degrees Celsius. Its close neighbor Hebei Province warned of the hottest summer since meteorological records began in 1955, 13 days after the high temperature remained higher than 35 degrees.

Rainstorm, however, continued to wreak havoc in the central and southern provinces.

In Hunan Province alone, seven deaths were reported on Friday after a night of heavy rain. A landslide Thursday night in Shuangfeng County destroyed 3,800 homes, killing six and leaving one person missing. Early on Friday, torrents rushing out one of the broken dams capsized a ferryboat in Daoxian County of Yongzhou City, causing one death and leaving six people missing.

Heavy rain also washed away a construction site in the southern Guangdong Province early Friday, killing a worker and injuring two others, the local government said.

The latest round of rainstorms that began on Sunday have battered 22 Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, killing 95 people and leaving another 21 missing, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said on Wednesday.

The CMA said the stormy weather was likely to continue in most areas in the coming three days.

(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2009)