According to the Yangtze River Administration under The Ministry of Transport, the water level along the 180km section of the Yangtze within central Chongqing has fallen to a dangerously low level, necessitating an increase in patrols by the local maritime authorities and a hike in penalties for overloaded vessels.

At the beginning of this year, the water level at Yangjiaotan in Chongqing was 14.58 metres. At 8:00am on 20 April, the water level at the same spot was only 1.54 metres.

In 2010 drought conditions caused the suspension of shipping between Chongqing and Luzhou for several consecutive days.