Thursday was World Water Day, and the theme this year was "water and food security".

Actually China's shortage of water has posed a huge challenge to the country's food security for years. In its southwestern provinces, a drought that has already lasted for three successive years is threatening farmers' crops, and similar droughts threatening water supplies and food production can be found in the central and eastern provinces.

The government is making huge efforts to address the nation's severe water challenges. Last year's No 1 central document emphasized the importance of water facilities and the government also introduced fresh regulations on "water resources management" in February.