Shenzhen residents consumed 213 cubic meters of water per person on average last year, the lowest in Guangdong Province, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

      The per capita water consumption in the city last year was just half the average in the province and one-third of that in Guangzhou, according to the Guangdong Bulletin on Water Resources released Monday.

      By comparison, Guangzhou residents consumed 809 cubic meters per head in 2007, the highest in China. So far, they have already consumed 493 cubic meters per person on average in 2008, according to the bulletin.

      The total water consumption in Guangdong last year rose by 310 million cubic meters to 46.3 billion. However, the average amount of rainfall in the province decreased 25.6 percent last year from that of 2006 and the total amount of the water resources fell by 13.6 percent.

      According to the bulletin, the uneven distribution of rainfall in Guangdong geographically due to global warming will continue to plague the province, which is expected to suffer from both drought and flooding in the future.

      Although the average precipitation in May and June this year was double the same period of normal years and reached the highest level since 1951, the western part of the province, such as Maoming and Leizhou cities, has already seen signs of drought, according to the bulletin.