BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- North China's Hebei Province, the major water supplier to Beijing, has overexploited its groundwater which caused subsidence and formed "20 hopper areas" of more than 40,000 square km, said a local water conservancy official on Saturday.

"Water shortage has become a big problem facing the province's social and economic development," Li Qinglin, director of Hebei's water conservancy department, told a forum marking the 17th World Water Day which falls on Sunday.

"Water resources in Hebei have dwindled by nearly 50 percent in recent years compared with that in the 1950s," said Li, adding the province consumes 20.5 billion to 21.5 billion cubic meters water annually but it has only 17 billion cubic meters of surface water, leaving groundwater to supply the margin.

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