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esidents of Greater Jakarta have been warned to save water during this year'€™s extended dry season, which may turn into a drought.

Evi Lutfiati, spokesperson for the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) on climate, said that the dry season, which normally ended in early October, might instead end in November.

'€œJuly and August usually see the peak of the dry season, but [the weather phenomenon] El Niño has made [the dry season this year] even drier. We call on residents to use water more wisely,'€ she told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

She added that, '€œWe predict that the rainy season will start in November instead of October.'€

Many regions in the country have reported that large amounts of farmland are on the verge of harvest failure as a result of this year'€™s prolonged dry season. The capital city, which is home to some 10 million residents at night, relies on the neighboring regions to supply agricultural products and even water. Jakarta relies heavily on water supplied from the Jatiluhur Reservoir in Purwakarta, West Java, among other water resources in neighboring regions.

Meyritha Maryanie, spokesperson for private water operator PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja), which serves the western areas of Jakarta, said that the company had received complaints regarding decreasing water supply from its customers in Cengkareng and Kalideres districts in West Jakarta.

'€œDemand for water basically increases in Cengkareng and Kalideres because of an increasing number of malls, houses and low-cost apartments,'€ she said.

She said that aside from the growing residential areas in the two districts, her company was also challenged by a lower water supply from water operator PDAM Tangerang, which had reduced its water supply for Jakarta to 75 liters per second from 100 liters per second over the past three or four years as it saw increasing demand in its own service area.

'€œWe always encourage customers to save water,'€ Meyritha said.

According to city-owned water operator PD PAM Jaya, demand for clean water in the capital city reached 29,474 liters per second this year, but the production capacity only reaches 17,875 liters per second.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Parks and Cemetery Agency head Ratna Diah Kurniati said that the agency had identified parks that suffered from aridness.
'€œWe focus on re-greening parks that suffered from aridness, such as the ones on Jl. Imam Bonjol and by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel [Central Jakarta] by planting plants that survive in the dry season,'€ she said as quoted by beritajakarta.com, adding that the agency had also deployed three water trucks to each municipality to boost their capacity. Each municipality has eight to 10 water trucks.

In North Jakarta, the prolonged drought is expected to cause the failure of the harvest of around 15 hectares of rice fields out of a total of 405 hectares in Rorotan, Cilincing, the head of the Fisheries, Agriculture and Food Security Agency, Una Rusmana, said.

The prolonged dry season has also affected residents in Greater Jakarta.

The management of BSD City in South Tangerang, Banten, has intensified a save water campaign during the past two months by placing banners in strategic places.

Meanwhile, five districts in Bekasi regency, including Cibarusah, have felt the pinch of the drought.

Cibarusah district head Iman Santoso said 2,774 families in Sirnajati, Ridomanah and Ridogalih villages had suffered a water crisis for three weeks, which was also affecting another 50 families in the Cibarusah Kota village for the first time.

He said this year'€™s drought was more severe as the heat was more intense.

'€œThe regency and volunteers have extended their help to us, but we have yet to have a long-term solution,'€ Iman told the Post at his office. (foy)