Water adds to worries in China's quake-hit Sichuan

By Emma Graham-Harrison

YINGXIU, China (Reuters) - There is water everywhere in China's quake-ravaged Sichuan province, where rain is hampering rescue efforts and reservoirs are pressing against weakened dams.

But for some people there is not a drop to drink.

As rescuers race against time to find people trapped in the rubble of Monday's earthquake, officials must also worry about supplying water to millions of people living in damaged towns or tent camps.

Water supply to the populous cities of Chengdu and Chongqing was largely unaffected by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck a wide swathe of northern Sichuan on May 12.

But in smaller towns, like Yingxiu near the epicentre, unclean drinking water is a growing problem for locals and for the refugees trekking in from flattened villages up in the mountains.

In Yingxiu, accessible only by foot in the days after the quake, the only available bottled water appeared to be that scavenged from wrecked homes and hotels.

Troops involved in the rescue effort and quake survivors trekked up a small hill to bring down water from a mountain stream, which was boiled but not always for very long.

One group of school children left behind a large water barrel that a medic from Guangdong province rushed to collect.