Drought, clean water shortage continue
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.