A prolonged drought has left thousands of hectares of rice fields dried out and tens of thousands of residents with a clean-water crisis in a number of regions in Central Java.

In Karanganyar regency, the drought has threatened some 3,000 hectares of rice fields as the two reservoirs that irrigate the fields, namely those of the Lalung and Delingan dams, have begun to run dry.

Suharno from the Delingan dam management said there was only some 500,000 cubic meters of water in the reservoir while its capacity was around 4 million cubic meters.

'€œMany of the farmers have chosen not to cultivate their fields due to the lack of water supply,'€ said Suharno on Monday, adding that the reservoirs irrigated rice fields in a number of subdistricts including Godong, Bejen, Gaum, Ngijo, Suruh and Wonolopo.

Rukimin of Lalung dam management told the same story, saying that the reservoir currently only accommodated 250,000 cubic meters out of its total capacity of 2 million cubic meters. The reservoir supplies water to some 1,300 hectares of rice fields.

Hundreds of hectares of rice fields around the dam have also dried out and caused harvest failures for hundreds of farmers in the region due to the drastic decrease in the volume of water. '€œThe average farmer is suffering a loss of between Rp 3 million [US$234] and Rp 4 million,'€ farmer Ngadiman of Suruhkandang said on Monday, adding that the subdistrict was home to some 100 farmers.

Head of Karanganyar Agriculture Crop Horticulture and Forestry Agency (Dispertanbunhut), Supramnaryo, said that five districts in the regency had been declared vulnerable to drought. These are Gondangrejo, Mojogedang, Karanganyar, Jaten and Karangpandan.

To deal with the problem the agency would implement a system that required the use of organic fertilizer that had the capability to absorb water from sources other than wells.

The drought has also caused at least 30,000 people in Cilacap and Banyumas in Central Java, to endure a shortage of clean water for the last two months, forcing them to buy water to meet their daily needs.

The affected residents live in six districts in Cilacap and five districts in Banyumas. Of them, some 20,000 are in Cilacap. The administrations of both regencies have been distributing clean water for free to ease the burden.

'€œWe have dropped off over 60 tanks of clean water and have enough to meet the needs of some 17,000 people for the next two weeks,'€ head of Cilacap Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Supriyanto, said on Monday.

In Banyumas, 10,000 people are enduring a clean-water shortage and the drought has also caused at least 3,000 hectares of rice fields to dry out, which it is feared will lead to harvest failure.

'€œPeople here have for the past two weeks been forced to buy clean water for Rp 5,000 per jerry can,'€ Tarimun of Kalitapen subdistrict, Purwojati district, told The Jakarta Post.

Banyumas BPBD has also started distributing clean water to the nine worst-affected subdistricts in the districts of Banyumas, Purwojati, Jatilawang, Gumelar and Lumbir.

Meanwhile, residents of the transmigration complexes in Kemboja and Satai Lestari subdistricts in North Kayong regency, West Kalimantan, were reported to be using water from ditches for consumption due to a scarcity of clean water.

'€œWe are forced to consume this because there is no other source of clean water to use,'€ Sujadi of Pulau Maya said as quoted by Antara news agency on Monday.

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