People told to save water during the rainy season<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) urged people on
\nThursday to save as much rain water as possible during the
\nupcoming wet season, which will likely be even shorter than it
\nwas last year.<\/p>\n
BMG head Gunawan Ibrahim suggested that the government and
\nfarmers manage rain water properly. so that they would have
\nenough water during the longer dry season next year.<\/p>\n
\"We must be able to provide water during both the rainy season
\nand the following dry season as the number of people who need
\nwater continues to increase,\" he told a press conference at his
\noffice.<\/p>\n
The rainy season, Gunawan said, was expected to come as early
\nas late September in certain parts of Aceh, North Sumatra and
\nJambi.<\/p>\n
Most provinces will see the rainy season arrive between
\nOctober and November.<\/p>\n
Some parts of east Indonesia, north coast areas of Java and
\nMadura will be the last ones to get rain.<\/p>\n
The upcoming rainy season will peak between December and
\nJanuary in most parts of the country.<\/p>\n
\"The rainfall may be much higher, ranging from 500 millimeters
\nto 2,500 millimeters, but it will occur in a shorter space of
\ntime. Therefore, it may spark natural disasters like floods and
\nlandslides,\" Gunawan said.<\/p>\n
The unwanted consequences of the heavy rainfall are mostly a
\nresult of the dwindling water catchment areas, many of which have
\nbecome housing complexes or industrial estates, Gunawan said.<\/p>\n
Floods and landslide will likely occur in most parts of the
\nareas affected the most by the drought because of the poor
\ncondition and lack of water catchment areas.<\/p>\n
Many people, particularly those on Java with a population of
\n128 million, have complained about the severe drought this year.
\nBecause of the water shortages, most of the reservoirs on the
\nisland are at critical water levels, which is starting to affect
\nhydro power plants and irrigation.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the agriculture ministry's production and food
\nplants development division head, Djakfar Habsah, told Antara
\nthat this year's drought had rendered at least 92,000 hectares of
\nfarmland useless, and it will be one of the worst harvests in the
\ncountry's history.<\/p>\n
Learning from the failure, Gatot Irianto, who heads the
\nIndonesia Agroclimate and Hydrology Research Institute
\n(Balitklimat), said that the agriculture ministry had
\ndisseminated the information to farmers across the country, so
\nthey could prepare for a shorter rainy season another long dry
\nseason next year.<\/p>\n
\"We expect farmers to start planting as soon as the rainy
\nseason comes,\" he told reporters in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Gatot said the farmers have been told to save as much water as
\npossible in their own reservoirs or tanks to before the onset of
\nthe next dry season.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/people-told-to-save-water-during-the-rainy-season-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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