14 Districts in Central Java Begin to Face Drought

At least 14 districts in Central Java Province have begun to face drought conditions, with the distribution of clean water being a priority for affected areas. “There are already, if I’m not mistaken, 14 districts,” said Head of the Central Java Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Bergas Catursasi Penanggungan, when asked about drought monitoring in the region on Friday (10/7/2026). He stated that the five most severely affected areas are Klaten, Banjarnegara, Cilacap, and Purbalingga. According to Bergas, areas like Klaten are indeed prone to drought because they are located around mountainous regions. “When it’s like this, the upper areas have difficulty getting water. During the dry season, there is always a shortage of clean water,” Bergas said. He explained that geoelectric surveys, a geophysical method to detect groundwater layers by measuring subsurface resistivity, had been conducted several years ago. “It turned out that there really is no water source that can be extracted from below,” he said. Bergas revealed that for handling drought in areas with such geographical characteristics, the only viable step is distributing clean water aid. According to him, overall, district and city governments in Central Java have prepared 129 million litres of clean water for distribution to affected areas. “So each district and city has prepared water availability totalling 129 million litres,” Bergas said.