Drought puts 16 regencies at risk of water crisis

SEMARANG: The Central Java administration has issued warnings of severe drought in 16 of 35 regencies and municipalities with lower-than-average rainfalls across the province.

The drought-prone regencies included Tegal, Kudus, Pati, Rembang, Grobogan, Blora, Boyolali, Karanganyar, Brebes, Sragen, Wonogiri, Klaten, Kendal, Demak, Magelang and Cilacap, regional disaster management board chairman Priyantono Jarot Nugroho said.

Some of these regencies had already requested clean water, he said. "We will mobilize 162 trucks to distribute clean water to needy regions. There have been no problems with the clean water supply so far," Priyantono said.

The board has allocated between Rp 1 billion and Rp 1.5 billion in financial assistance to each of the regencies to provide clean water. However, the drought has triggered other problems, including causing seven reservoirs to dry up, putting more than 6,300 hectares of rice paddies across the province facing possible harvest failure. Water resources management agency head Suryono Suripno said the local government had intensified their campaign to improve public awareness of the need to save water. -JP