BEIJING, June 5 (Reuters) - A prolonged drought in China's mountainous southwestern province of Sichuan has left nearly 4 million people and 4.46 million livestock short of drinking water, Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

Eighty counties or cities had suffered 20 to 40 days of drought this summer, according to the Sichuan provincial meteorological bureau.

"About 110,000 people have to depend on water transported by vehicles," Xinhua said, quoting the provincial water resources department.

"The drought has made it impossible for the plantation of paddy (rice) in large tracts of farmland. Some crops have dried up."

Nearly 1 million people in the western province of Gansu are short of drinking water as the area faces its worst drought in 60 years, Xinhua said last month.

China is exploring a series of massive water transfer projects to address water supply problems in a country with per-capita water resources well below global averages.

A government report has also warned that global warming in the future is likely to make China vulnerable to more drought in its arid north and flooding in the south.

AlertNet news is provided by