GUIYANG, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Guizhou Province will invest about 30 million yuan (about 3.8 million U.S. dollars) this year to repair 100 problematic reservoirs, sources with the provincial water resources department said Monday.

A spokesman with the department said most reservoirs in the province were built in the 1950s to 1970s and have been pestered with a lot of problems in design, construction and management.

The province has built 1,928 reservoirs since 1949, and by the end of the 1990s, 918 reservoirs, or about 47.6 percent of the total had become dangerous, he said.

"Many reservoirs have become dilapidated and are unsafe in storing water during flood season. Some have even put neighboring residents' lives in jeopardy," he said.

The provincial, city and county governments have allocated about 254 million yuan (about 33 million U.S. dollars) from 2000 to 2006 to reinforce and repair 524 reservoirs, the spokesman said.

Statistics show that China has more than 85,000 reservoirs, of which 30,000 have serious problems, including 200 large and 1,600 medium-sized reservoirs.

Jiao Yong, China's Deputy Minister of Water Resources, described the problematic reservoirs as "time bombs" that threaten the lives and property of people living downstream.

Jiao said the government would spend five billion yuan each year in the coming three years to repair unsound and dangerous reservoirs.