14 Districts in Central Java Begin to Face Drought

At least 14 regencies in Central Java (Jateng) have begun to face drought. The distribution of clean water assistance has become a priority for affected areas.

“If I’m not mistaken, it has already reached 14 regencies,” said the Head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Central Java Province, Bergas Catursasi Penanggungan, when asked about the drought monitoring in the region on Friday (10/7/2026).

He said the five worst-affected areas were Klaten, Banjarnegara, Klaten, Cilacap and Purbalingga. According to Bergas, areas such as Klaten are indeed “regulars” when it comes to drought, because they lie in mountainous surroundings.

“When it gets like this, the upland areas have difficulty getting water. Indeed, whenever the dry season comes, there is always a shortage of clean water,” said Bergas.

He explained that a few years ago a geoelectric survey was carried out — a geophysical survey method to detect groundwater layers based on resistivity measurements below the surface. “It turned out that there is indeed no water source below that can be extracted,” he said.

Bergas revealed that for handling drought in areas with such geographical characteristics, the step that can be taken is to distribute clean water assistance. Overall, he said, regency and city governments across Central Java have prepared 129 million litres of clean water to be channelled to drought-affected areas.

“So each regency and city has prepared water supplies of up to 129 million litres,” said Bergas.