Taps run dry in Cirebon, thousands suffer

Taps run dry in Cirebon, thousands suffer

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post/Cirebon

Drought has hit some subdistricts of Cirebon, West Java, leaving
some 3,000 families without clean water.

President director of the Cirebon Tap Water Company Nasija
Warnadi, admitted on Wednesday that his company had been unable
to meet household demands for water.

The company's water supply plummeted by some 30 to 40 percent
a few weeks ago, mostly caused by springs on Mount Ciremai drying
up. He warned that the supply of water would further diminish if
rain did not fall in Cirebon in the near future.

He explained that, similar to the springs, the water debit in
three rivers in the regency had also diminished. Water debit in
the three rivers had been 100 liters per second on average, but
had now dropped to 40 to 60 liters per second.

Yusuf, 42, a resident of Jagapura Lor in Gegesik district
here, said he had resorted to buying water from a mobile trader.

"Over the last few days our tap water supply dropped. We don't
even have enough for cooking, so we decided to buy our water,"
said Yusuf.

He admitted that he bought 50 liters of water each day on
average from the mobile water trader, at a cost of Rp 8,000 (50
U.S. cents) per 50 liters.

Separately, the leader of a government task force in Cirebon
said that the task force had identified the problem and was
planning to dispatch trucks to deliver free clean water.

"We are also looking at whether it is feasible to help local
residents reach a supply of water by digging wells," said Aan
Setiawan, chairman of the Cirebon Drought Disaster Impact
Management Team.