Antara 6 Aug 15;
Bojonegoro (ANTARA News) - East Javas Pacal, Gondang, and Prijetan reservoirs have dried up as their water is mostly used to irrigate local rice fields, an official from the Bengawan Solo Water Resources Department stated here on Thursday.
"Currently, the exit gates of the three reservoirs in our work area are shut as there is no more water left in them," affirmed the Hirwono.
The remaining water in the reservoirs is left there to maintain them, otherwise their structure will incur damage, he noted.
Therefore, Hirwono urged the farmers to not temporarily plant rice during the current dry season, as there would be no water to irrigate their fields.
The water from the three reservoirs is mainly used to irrigate the nearby rice fields, so that the farmers can harvest the rice.
Hirwono stated that the current drought has been triggered by the "El Nino" phenomenon, which has led to an early dry season, given that the rains had stopped since June, unlike the previous year where it continued to rain in the dry season.
According to the Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the rainy season will start as usual in October-November.
Head section of the Water Resources Management Utilization of the Irrigation Department Dody Sigit Wijaya stated that the exit gates of the three reservoirs have already been closed since mid-July.
"We have estimated that the water left there in the reservoirs is only 850 thousand cubic meters," he revealed.
Based on the available data, the Pacal reservoir in Kedungsumber village, Temayang sub-district, has the capacity to store 42 million cubic meters of water, but currently, only 17 million cubic meters of water is left due to the damage incurred by the reservoirs structure.
(Uu.A050/KR-BSR/A014)
