Beijing has increased the Yellow River's water flow from the Xiaoliangdi reservoir in an attempt to ease the water crisis in Shandong province.
Since last Friday, the water flow from the massive reservoir had increased from 400 to 1,290 cubic metres a second, the Shenhuo Ribao newspaper said.
The move comes two weeks after Shandong water officials were in Beijing asking the Ministry of Water Resources to authorise more water to the province.
The province is suffering from one of the worse droughts in centuries. According to China Daily, the region's rainfall is 85 per cent lower than last year.
Local media have reported more than 3.6 million people do not have enough water and that about 800,000 people are dependent on delivered water.
Officials say the drought has so far caused more than 10 billion yuan (HK$9.4 billion) in economic losses and that a million livestock and four million hectares of farmland are in danger.