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Anies advises residents to save water during dry season
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned residents of Greater Jakarta and Banten of water shortages in the next 20 to 60 days as there is little chance of rain until September.
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Jakarta Governor, Anies Baswedan makes a statement during an interview with 'The Jakarta Post' on March 14, 2018. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
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akarta Governor Anies Baswedan has advised residents to be frugal when using water and to reuse water to anticipate water shortages during the current dry season.
“Whatever our activities are, we should save water as much as we can. The second thing we can do is to use facilities for water treatment so we can reuse the water,” Anies said on Thursday, kompas.com reported.
He said that the administration was currently drafting a gubernatorial instruction (Ingub), outlining steps the city would take during the dry season.
“We will have measures, we made the draft on Aug. 6 and it will be issued later as an Ingub. After we finish it, we will announce what the administration will do to cope with the dry season in Jakarta,” Anies said.
“We have to prepare for the dry season that happens in many parts of Indonesia, including in the western end of Java Island. This is climate change, so we are all feeling it. So everyone, not just in Jakarta, must save water,” Anies said.
Previously, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) warned residents of Greater Jakarta and Banten of water shortages in the next 20 to 60 days as there is little chance of rain until September. It issued a status level of siaga (alert) for Serpong and Pondok Aren in South Tangerang.
The agency predicted that the shortages could potentially affect the supply of groundwater across Greater Jakarta and Banten. Additionally, the agency also noted that air pollution levels in both regions was likely to increase during the dry season.
In Setu sub-district in South Tangerang, Banten, some residents have started feeling the brunt of the dry season.
“We have experienced a water crisis for more than three weeks. Not just me but about 99 percent of the 300 families living here have reduced water,” Zainal, 42 a resident of Pesona Serpong housing complex said on Thursday.
He said the residents had to take turns using the water supplied by a water tower run by a local self-help group.
“We have two water towers, the first one can contain 8,000 liters of water and the second contains 2,200 liters of water. So we take turns using the water so it will not run out quickly,” Zainal said.
He said the residents made a schedule when to release the water from the towers, opening the faucets at 4 a.m., 12 p.m., and 6 p.m. (ami)
