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Drought triggers water crisis in Tangerang
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Residents living close to the Cisadane River in Tangerang, Banten, use river water for laundry and other purposes on July 3, as the wells near their houses have dried out. (Antara/File)
T
housands of villagers in Tangerang regency, Banten, like many people across Indonesia, are suffering a shortage of clean water as the country faces an intense dry season this year.
The Tangerang administration says residents from 11 villages in the regency have requested clean water supply as they could no longer source water from their wells.
“We have had requests for clean water for the past two months. We distribute clean water every day,” Tangerang administration secretary M. Maesal Rasyid said on Thursday as reported by tempo.co.
He added that the villagers lacking clean water had filed reports at the offices of village heads, and village officials would request water supply from the Tangerang Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) and from region-owned tap water company (PDAM) Tirta Kertaraharja.
The institutions delivered dozens of tanks of water to those villages every day, Maesal said, adding that the local government had assured people they would get sufficient supplies of clean water.
Meanwhile, Tangerang BPBD head Agus Suryana said the villages affected by the drought included Tigaraksa, Legok, Curug, Jambe, Panongan, Jayanti, Teluknaga, Kosambi, Sindang Jaya, Kronjo and Mauk.
He confirmed that the water operator had received formal requests from village heads as wells had dried up.
“Most of the reports state difficulties with getting clean due to a decline in the supply of groundwater,” he said, adding that several institutions, including a hospital, had also requested water supplies.
Many regions across the country have been suffering from drought. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said the dry season would culminate in August. (sau/bbn)
