Indonesia: Locals suffer clean water scarcity as drought hits Wonogiri

Ganug Nugroho Adi The Jakarta Post 26 Apr 17;

Dry season has begun to hit areas across Java.

About 15,000 residents of eight villages in the southern area of Wonogiri regency in Central Java have reportedly been suffering from severe drought for the last several weeks. As a result, villagers have had to collectively pay between Rp 70,000 (US$5.3) and Rp 100,000 for a 6,000-liter tank of water.

“Rain has been extremely rare lately. Farmers have been hit the hardest. They need up to two tanks of water for a week,” Waluyo, 39, a resident of Johunut village in Paranggupito district said on Wednesday.

Wells, ponds and water springs, which were villagers’ source of water, are reportedly going dry.

Villagers who cannot afford to buy water have had to walk for kilometers to find other sources of water.

“There are ponds and rivers not far away that are still watered but the flow is very little. It could take half an hour to fill up a 10-liter bucket. We don’t have other options,” said 57-year-old Sunarni.

Paranggupito district official Dwi Hartono said almost half of the residents in the district began to order water tanks about a month ago.

“Some residents have big water tubs to catch rainwater. Since there is no more rain, they buy tank water to fill up the tubs,” Dwi said.

Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Wonogiri head Bambang Haryanto said the agency had prepared 70 6,000-liter water tanks to be deployed to five villages in Paranggupito. (bbs)