Hundreds of thousands face water crisis in Purbalingga

Hundreds of thousands of people living in more than 50 villages across the Central Java regency of Purbalingga are facing a shortage of clean water as an ongoing drought worsens.

The regency-owned tap water company reported it had received requests for water deliveries from at least 35,000 families in the last two months.

“We predict more families will call for help as the drought sets in,” the company’s customer relations officer, Titin Kustriati, said Friday.

Villages in the districts of Karanganyar, Kemangkon, Kejobong, Bukateja and Kaligondang are being hit the hardest, Titin said.

The company had sent 20 tanks of clean water to the drought-affected villages, she said, and expected the local government to follow suit.

The chief of drought-ridden Nangkasawit village, Nasirun, said local people were in desperate need of local government assistance as their wells and rivers were drying up.