Quánshuǐ yǐjīng jié le, cūnmín men bùdébù lìng xún shuǐyuán.
The spring has dried up, and the villagers had to find another water source.
Tips
usage
竭 is a literary/classical character, most commonly seen in fixed expressions: 竭尽全力 (to do one's utmost), 竭力 (to strive hard), 竭泽而渔 (to drain the pond to catch all the fish - shortsighted exploitation).
memory
Think of 竭 as 'stand (立) until the water (氵) in your cup (曰) runs out' - you've given everything until completely exhausted.
立 on the left is the stand radical, a pictograph of a person planted firmly on the ground. It contributes the sense of someone standing ready to give everything until nothing remains, fitting the meaning of exhaustion 竭 names.
曷 supplies the reading, drifting from hé to jié along an old velar-palatal alternation. The same phonetic appears in 揭 (lift up), 渴 (thirsty), and 喝 (drink), all clustered around the je/he syllables and often touching on emptying or pouring out.
