Tens of thousands of people across Indonesia are suffering from the
water crisis caused by the current long drought.
Data from the National Disaster
Mitigation Agency shows the regions hardest hit by the water crisis include
Java, Bali and East Nusa Tenggara.
Last year, there was a water
deficit for seven months through the dry season and surplus for five months
during the rainy season.
Since 2003, up to 77 percent of
regencies and cities in Java have had a water deficit for one to eight months
in a year. At least 36 regencies experienced water deficit for at least five
months in a year, according to the agency’s data.
In a number of areas in
Yogyakarta alone, many people are forced to buy water for their daily needs.
Those who are unwilling or unable
to buy water have to walk several kilometers from their homes to fetch water
from nearby dams and lakes.
“We need five jerricans [each
with a capacity of 40 liters] of water to cook, take a bath and wash clothes,”
Sarjiyem, a resident of Mangunan Dlinggo, Bantul, said Wednesday.
It takes an average of half a day
for Sarjiyem to walk the two kilometers along arduous paths in hilly areas to
get the water.
“I’m forced to fetch water four
times a day,” she said, adding she did not have any alternative since she needs
it every day.
Rubiyah, another resident, said
the local administration dropped water by tanker at times, but she could not
rely on it.
“We have to buy a tank of water
for Rp 120,000 [US$12.54] for two week’s consumption,” she said.
Both Sarjiyem and Rubiyah said
that if rains do not fall within a month, dams and lakes would dry up.
At the peak of the dry season in
September or October, residents have been forced to sell belongings, like
cattle and logs, to buy water.
Mangunan village head Poniyat
admitted his subordinates invited the tankers to drop water in his village,
where over 1,000 people live. “But it cannot be done every day,” he said.
Thousands of people in dozens of
nearby villages have suffered from the crisis.
Agriculture Minister Suswono said
Monday that the drought in various provinces had caused harvest failures.
He said affected farmland
currently stood at 127,000 hectares. “As much as 75 percent of the area has
already faced harvest failure,” said Suswono.
The water crisis has also been
felt by thousands of residents of Gunungkidul regency which consist mainly of
limestone hills.
In order to meet water demand,
the local administration has intensified the deployment of water trucks.
“We’ve calculate water supplies
will drop until the end of October,” head of the Gunungkidul Social Service,
Manpower and Transmigration Office head Dwi Warno Widi Nugroho said.
Dwi Warno said during the drought
which has become a routine, annual phenomenon, Rp 522.5 million was spent to
send water by truck for three months.
Similar events took place last
year when around 10 percent of zones in Java experienced a late rainy season,
at least in December, while the other islands experienced it in between October
and November.
Slamet Susanto and Hyginus
Hardoyo
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