00:30 China’s Largest Freshwater Lake Dries Up Drought has caused China’s largest freshwater lake to dry up.

At a Glance At its largest, the lake is more than three times the size of the city of Los Angeles.

Lake Poyang became a grassland in a matter of weeks.

Drought conditions have dried up China's largest freshwater lake in a matter of weeks.

A lack of rainfall since September has turned much of Poyang Lake, in the northern province of Jiangxi, into a grassland, allowing residents to walk across the expanse on foot.

At it's largest, the huge lake covered 1,737 square miles, which is more than three times the size of the city of Los Angeles., according to the Jiangxi Poyang National Nature Reserve Authority .

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ap_948206596748.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ap_948206596748.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ap_948206596748.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > Local Chinese residents walk on the bare bed of the nearly dried-up Poyang Lake. (Imaginechina via AP Images) (Imaginechina via AP Images)

According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, the size of the lake fluctuates seasonally and is composed of a system of lakes and marshes.

The water level of the lake, which is connected to the Yangtze River , typically holds an abundance of freshwater fish and shrimp. On Nov. 3, the water level of the lake dipped to 34.8 feet, reports People's Daily Online.

(MORE: Chinese Cave Drawings Document Hundreds of Years of Drought )

While it is typical for the lake to dry up to a certain extent each year, the low-water period began at least two months early this year, according to the Jiangxi Hydrology Bureau, which notes that the low-water period of Poyang Lake has become increasingly longer since 1952.

The early onset of the dry period has become an economic disaster for the local fishing industry , as well as on rice farmers, who rely on the water for their crops, reports Xinhua, citing an official from the water resources department of Jiangxi.

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