Suherdjoko and Slamet Susanto, Semarang, Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta – Residents of Gunungkidul regency in Yogyakarta and in 12 regencies in Central Java have begun to feel the pinch of a prolonged drought.
Central Java Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) declared an emergency water crisis in the regencies on Friday. The agency's emergency response affairs head Gembong Purwanto Nugroho said on Friday that the worst drought was taking place in Rembang, Pemalang, Klaten, Kendal, Demak, Kebumen, Magelang, Purworejo, Blora, Wonogiri, Grobogan and Semarang regencies.
His agency has deployed 3,000 water-tanker trucks to deliver clean water to the affected areas. As many as nine trucks arrived in Degan village, Winong Kidul district, Pati regency on Thursday, where village residents have been unable over the last month to use the increasingly murky groundwater to meet their daily water needs.
Meanwhile, in Gunungkidul, some 45,000 families suffering from a clean water crisis have been forced to buy clean water to meet their daily needs. "Drought has occurred in all 18 districts in Gunungkidul regency," head of the agency's social affairs division, Susyatmiatun, said recently.
The worst-hit regions include the districts of Rongkop, Girisubo, Tepus and Semin. To help ease the burden, the regency administration said they had been dropping clean water in affected areas since July. "This year, we allocated Rp 800 million [US$67,396] from the regency budget for the [clean water] program," Susyatmiatun said.
She added that rainwater, local residents' primary source of water, had been depleted for months and that other sources of water, including lakes, had by now also mostly dried up. Should residents still have groundwater, she could, it could only be used for washing purposes. "Of some 200 lakes in Gunungkidul, about 70 percent have dried up," he said.
Central Java Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) declares emergency water crisis in 12 regencies in Central Java In Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta, some 45,000 families suffering from clean water crisis
Meanwhile, locals complained that the administration only occasionally supplied clean water and that the overall contribution was not enough to meet their daily needs.
To meet the demand for water, most locals have been buying 5,000 liter tanks for between Rp 150,000 and Rp 200,000, depending on their distance from the buying location.
"A tank of clean water is sufficient for 10 days," Karjono of Wunung, Wonosari, Gunungkidul, said. He said that if no rain fell in the next month, people in his area would be forced to sell their belongings to buy water. "I am running out of savings," he said.
To help conserve water, Karjono said that people in Wunung mostly used the water they bought for eating and drinking, with many preferring to walk some two kilometers to the shrunken lake for washing. Semarang Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency's (BMKG) data and information section head Reni Kraningtyas said the peak of the dry season this year was expected to occur in August and September, with high temperatures of between 33 and 34 degrees Celsius.
"The highest temperatures will occur in Rembang, Pati, Blora, Demak, Semarang and areas along the northern coast of Java," said Reni. Several areas will see a transitional season sometime around October and the rainy season is expected to arrive in November.
[Ainur Rohmah also contributed to this story from Semarang.]