Drought Hits 96 Percent of Regions in West Java

Drought and clean water shortages in West Java continue to spread. As of this week, 26 of the province’s 27 regencies and cities have experienced drought and clean water shortages.

“Drought and clean water shortages have affected 189 villages and urban wards across 440 sub-districts. The total number of affected residents has reached 588,534 people from 181,404 households,” said Hadi Rahmat, spokesperson for the West Java Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), on Tuesday (25/8).

Efforts to assist residents are being carried out by BPBD with support from other agencies. To date, 13,001,400 litres of clean water have been distributed to affected residents.

BPBD is not working alone. The agency has distributed 7,886,700 litres of clean water.

Assistance has also come from a number of institutions. The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) has supplied 1.8 million litres of clean water, regional water companies (PDAM) 2.2 million litres, district police 8,000 litres, the Citarum River Basin Agency (BBWS) 130,000 litres, the National Alms Agency (Baznas) 116,000 litres, district military command 4,000 litres, community groups 240,000 litres and businesses 240,000 litres.

Bekasi Regency has received the largest volume of clean water assistance at 6.5 million litres, followed by Bogor Regency with 2 million litres and Karawang Regency with 710,000 litres.

Meanwhile, the largest number of affected residents is in Bogor Regency with more than 200,000 people, exceeding Bekasi Regency with 72,000 people and Tasikmalaya Regency with 46,000 people.

“The dry season will still be long. We urge residents to conserve water more effectively. BPBD will strive to assist residents experiencing clean water shortages,” Hadi added.