Rorotan residents short of water

JAKARTA (JP): At least 3,000 residents of Rorotan subdistrict in Cilincing, North Jakarta, have been suffering a water shortage over the last five months, with many unable to bathe regularly.

"Finding water to drink is very difficult, let alone to wash clothes or take a bath. I'm happy if I can find a bucket of water just to wash my body. Due to the water shortage, I rarely take a bath during the dry season," said Abdullah, one of the local residents, yesterday.

"We don't mind not taking a bath for days, but what is important is water to drink," he said.

Cilincing district head Moch Ali Usman said that there was no pipeline network from city-owned water company PDAM Jaya available in the Rorotan area.

In response to residents' complaints about the water shortage, Golkar's Jakarta chapter and PDAM Jaya have distributed five 4,000-liter tanks of clean water to Rorotan residents free of charge.

Bambang Sungkono of Golkar's Jakarta chapter said water would be delivered to the area every day until the rainy season began.

The unavailability of clean water from the water company and the isolated location of their village in the middle of rice fields caused difficulties in distributing clean water to the area.

Chief of Rorotan subdistrict Swarso said the water company also provided four permanent water tanks, each with a capacity of 8,000 liters, to facilitate the distribution of water to local residents. (05)