江西水文局資料顯示，中國50年來最嚴峻的乾旱，已造成最大淡水湖鄱陽湖的面積縮至200平方公里以下。
鄱陽湖位在江西省東南方，由5條河流分別注入其中，河水匯集後再流入中國最長河長江。新華社引用水文局的資料指出，江酉省2011年的降雨量和歷年平均降雨量來相比的話，又低了21%。
最近期間以來，匯入鄱陽湖五條河川之一的贛江，其中上游水位為12.35公尺，是今年最低，跟往年一月的歷史最低水位相比，又低了0.47公尺。水文局在年初表示，贛江沿岸的都市正防範可能的缺水問題。
鄱陽湖面積的持續縮小已持續數年。江酉省官員2011年6月就曾公布，由於數月以來長江中下游的乾旱影響，湖面積和往年相比已經縮小了87%。
水文局發言人說明，在2011年4月，工作人員在主要的水工作站測量到的水位只有9.48公尺，和往年的水位記錄相比都降了4.1公尺。
鄱陽湖是50萬隻候鳥的度冬之地，也是140多種魚類和其他600多種動物的棲地。極度瀕危的西伯利亞白鶴（Siberian white cranes），其殘存的族群也在此棲息。
據2007年中國青年報的報導，過去幾年，採砂業成為當地經濟發展命脈和重要的財政收人。不過熱絡的開採業務和湖上頻繁的交通也造成野生動物數量的下降，特別是那些瀕危的長江江豚（finless porpoise, N. a. asiaeorientalis）這種小型物種。
中國科學院水生生物研究所副所長王丁接受中國青年報採訪時指出，長江一度是露脊鼠海豚的理想棲地，不過人類所帶動的經濟發展，迫使牠們的生存環境從原來長江的棲地轉換到鄱陽湖和洞庭湖，但這兩處並不是牠們的理想棲地。
王丁說，「目前較樂觀的數據顯示出，此種海豚數量最多不超過1400隻，但比起1997年的數目實在是少了一半以上了。雖然海豚數量每年減少約7.3%，不過如果政府積極面對問題做出改善，相信不至於發生物種滅絕。」
2011年6月，省官員宣佈江酉省將計畫興建2800公尺高的水壩（鄱陽湖水利樞紐工程建設），以避免三峽大壩對鄱陽湖造成的衝擊。江西省山區河流和湖泊發展委員會辦公室主任王曉紅，當時接受上海日報訪問時說道，三峽大壩對鄱陽湖所造成的衝擊嚴重，因為大壩阻擋長江的水量注人湖內。
報導指出，2006年三峽大壩的主要部份完工後，水位由原來19.5公尺以上降到只剩下16公尺。
中國國務院早在2009年12月就通過鄱陽湖水壩的興建計畫案，但目前尚未動工，因專家學者擔心可能將惡化湖泊的生態環境。
2011年5月18日，中國國務院發表一份聲名，承諾持續積極努力保護鄱陽湖地區的環境，預防地質災害發生並設法使三峽大壩對長江中下游地區所造成的衝擊降到最低。
在西元618-907，年也就是中國唐朝時，鄱陽湖曾達到最大面積6000平方公里。
※ 新華社10日再次提出警訊：最大淡水湖鄱陽湖星子站水位跌破8公尺，正式進入極枯水位期。
※ 參考資料：
鄱陽湖告急
鄱陽湖建壩 「人禍」和「江湖」博弈
The surface area of China's largest freshwater lake has shrunk to less 200 square kilometers (77 square miles) due to China's worst drought in 50 years, according to the Jiangxi Provincial Hydrographic Bureau.
Poyang Lake, situated in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, is fed by five rivers and empties into the Yangtze, China's longest river.
Statistics released by the hydrographic bureau to the state-run Xinhua News Agency show that average precipitation in Jiangxi in 2011 was 21 percent lower than the annual average in the past several years.
Currently, the water level of the middle and lower reaches of the Ganjiang River, one of the five rivers that flows into the lake, has reached a record low for this time of year of 12.35 meters (40.5 feet). This level is 0.47 meters (1.5 feet) lower than the previous record low for January, according to the hydrographic bureau.
Cities along the Ganjiang River are preparing for a possible water shortage, the bureau said on Wednesday
The shrinking of Poyang Lake has been going on for years. In June 2011, provincial officials announced that the lake was 87 percent smaller than it had been in previous years due to the drought that has plagued the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River for months.
In April 2011, workers at the lake's main water station, recorded the water level at just 9.48 meters (31 feet), which was 4.1 meters (13.4 feet) lower than at any point in its history, said a spokesman with the Poyang Hydrology Bureau at the time.
The lake provides habitat for half a million migratory birds, including the only surviving population of critically endangered Siberian white cranes.
The lake also is inhabited by some 140 kinds of fish and about 600 other animal species.
Sand dredging has become a mainstay of local economic development in the last few years, and is an important source of revenue in the region that borders Poyang Lake. But high-density dredging projects and heavy shipping traffic in the lake have resulted in the decline of for the local wildlife population, particularly the unique and endangered freshwater finless porpoise, N. a. asiaeorientalis, according to a 2007 report by the "China Youth Daily."
The Yangtze River once was ideal habitat for these unique porpoises, but human economic activity has squeezed them into Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake, where they are only just surviving, Wang Ding, deputy director of the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Zhang for her report.
"An optimistic estimate would put numbers at no more than 1,400 - less than half of the 1997 population. But although the porpoise population is currently dropping at a rate of 7.3 percent per year, it still has a hope of survival - if enough action is taken," said Wang.
Jiangxi Province plans to build a 2,800-meter (9,186 foot) high dam to protect Poyang Lake from the impact of the world's largest dam, the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze River, provincial officials said in June.
The Three Gorges dam has had a great impact on Poyang Lake because it prevents Yangtze River water from entering the lake, Wang Xiaohong, director of the Mountain, River and Lake Development Committee of the province, told the Shanghai newspaper in June.
Water levels had been above 19.5 meters (64 feet) but dropped to only 16 meters (52.5 feet) after the main part of the Three Gorges dam was completed in 2006, the report said.
The Poyang dam plan was approved by the State Council, the country's Cabinet, in December 2009, but work has yet to begin as experts fear the dam might worsen the situation of the lake.
On May 18, 2011, the State Council issued a statement promising continued efforts to protect the environment, prevent geological disasters and minimize the Three Gorges Dam's impact on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Lake Poyang reached its greatest size during the Tang Dynasty, 618-907 A.D., when it covered 6,000 square kilometers.
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