CORRECTED: China's Olympic water province faces severe drought

Corrects conversion of 33,000 sq km in last paragraph.

BEIJING (Reuters) - The north Chinese province of Hebei, which will supply arid Beijing with much of its water for the summer Olympics, is suffering severe drought, with half a million residents likely to face hardships with drinking water.

Hebei lies next to China's national capital and has long provided the city's 16 million residents with most of their water.

With Beijing's water demand during the Olympics expected to spike by up to 30 percent above average, reaching 2.75 million cubic meters a day, Hebei has been recruited to supply an extra 300 million cubic meters of "back-up" supplies.

But on Tuesday the official Hebei Daily said lack of winter rain and snow had intensified the drought, leaving some reservoirs dangerously low.

"Due to the lack of effective precipitation since the winter, Hebei province is experiencing severe drought," the newspaper said, citing officials in the provincial flood and drought office.

Since the start of winter which has been unusually cold in the south, average precipitation across Hebei had been 7 mm, 60 percent below the long-term average.

"The severe drought has created tense conditions for fighting drought and for water supplies in our province, and the conflict between water supply and demand has been dramatically exacerbated."

China is rushing to finish the canals from Hebei to Beijing for its "green" Games, ensuring a lush, sparkling host city greets the world in August. The 309 km (192 miles) of channels and pipes will draw on four Hebei dams.