Drought, clean water shortage continue
Sri Wahyuni and Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Cirebon
Demand for local governments' help to provide clean water is intensifying, as the seasonal drought continues to affect thousands of people in many parts of Java.
The local administration in Gunung Kidul, the regency hardest hit by the drought in Yogyakarta province, estimated that 94,000 people were in need of government assistance, as they could not afford to buy clean water.
Sumarno, the assistant to the regental secretary for development affairs, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday the drought this year had already affected 120,000 people living in 52 villages. The affected villages are mostly impoverished and lie across Gunung Kidul, an arid mountain southwest of the provincial capital, which regularly suffers from drought.
"Request for clean water from the people is increasing. But we have limited funds to provide free clean water," Sumarno said.
The regental administration has allocated only Rp 150 million (US$17,600 million) from its 2003 budget to provide clean water for poor residents. Sumarno said the local government would need Rp 500 million, based on a forecast that the dry season will end in October.
The local government has been sending water tanks to the drought-affected villages, each of which costs up to Rp 100,000. A total of eight tankers carrying 4,000 liters of clean water have been sent to the villages every day, making five delivery trips.
The administration has built a pipeline connecting the villages to distribute ground water taken from a deep well, but it does not work well due to technical problems with the pump.
"We need investment of over Rp 10 billion to make it reach the needy," said Sumarno, adding that the central government had not approved the much-awaited project.
In Kulonprogo regency, the water shortage has reached 18 villages in the districts of Kokap, Girimulyo, Kali Bawang and Samigaluh. The villages are situated on the Menoreh mountain.
"If there is no rainfall until the end of October, we are afraid the drought will considerably extend to other areas," said Juwardi of the Kulonprogo natural disaster management team.
Juwardi said the Kulonprogo government had been delivering clean water to each of the affected areas and had also built a 10,000-liter water tank to anticipate future effects of the drought.
"Clean water shortage was not expected to occur. That's why we didn't allocate a special budget for it," he said. The local government has taken money from the regency's emergency fund to provide water for the people.
In the West Java regency of Cirebon, drought has far reduced the tap water supply for 3,000 houses, with customers in Kapetakan, Gegesik, Arjawinangun and Beber districts being worst affected.
"The supply has been falling by as much as 40 percent because the water springs on Mount Ciremai are being drained," said general manager Nasir Asman of the tap water company.
The company serves 21,500 customers.
He said the springs were draining as a result of environment damage affecting thousands of hectares of forest and water catchments on Mt Ciremai.
The Cibodas, Cikalahang and Kumpulkuista springs are the regular water sources of the company. The rate of water flow from the springs has declined to between 40 liters and 60 liters per second, from the normal rate of 100 liters per second, said Nasir.
"Our customers have to take turns in using water due to our limited supply," he said.
A customer in Gagesik said he used tap water only for cooking and had to buy more from water vendors for other purposes, including bathing.
Nasir said the tap water company had suggested the local administration build a dam to collect rain water, which would be very helpful during the annual dry season.