Authorities are taking emergency measures to ensure that 1.5 million people affected by drought in north and northeast China are receiving drinking water.

Farmers fetch water from a well dug by themselves in Fuxin Mongolia Autonomous County, Fuxin city, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Aug. 14, 2009. [Shenyang Daily]

They are among 3.9 million people in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shanxi, Liaoning and Jilin provinces who are having difficulty getting drinking water supplies, said a statement on the website of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief on Sunday.

Authorities are also irrigating 47 million mu (3.13 million hectares) of crops, said the statement.

Altogether 168 million mu (11.2 million hectares) of crops were affected.

The drought has spread through north and northeast China since late July as a result of insufficient rainfall and continued high temperatures.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) Sunday forecast heavy rain would hit north China, which would alleviate the drought and high temperatures.