The Yellow River, China's second longest waterway, sees its water nearly one third less than normal years, an official said Sunday.

Li Guoying, deputy chief of the Yellow River Flood Prevention and Drought Relief Headquarters, said from last July to mid-May, the volume of water flowing into the waterway was 29.3 billion cubic meters, 31 percent less than the same period in normal years.

From late May through June, its volume of water was forecast to be four billion cubic meters, still 25 percent less than the average for the same period in previous years, said Li at a conference in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province.

Water shortage was severe in the Yellow River drainage area, he said.

With a mainstream of 5,464 km, the Yellow River, billed as the "mother river" of China, originates from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the northwest and flows eastward through nine provinces and autonomous regions before emptying into the Bohai Sea. It has 35 main tributaries.

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2009)