TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As many as 822,000 liters of clean water have been distributed to Jakartans who suffered from water shortages due to drought in this year’s dry season. Water resources dried up in 47 neighborhood units (RT) following the absence of rain for over 60 days.

The head of the Jakarta Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Iwan Ibrahim, said the water distribution was executed by city-owned water company PDAM Jaya and the Clean Water Task Force. The corporation made the distribution to its customers.

“But those whose wells dry up are assisted by the Clean Water Task Force and related agencies," Iwan said on Friday, October 25, 2019.

Earlier, the Jakarta BPBD announced that drought had hit a total of 47 RTs that were mostly located in West Jakarta (the sub-districts of Kalideres, Pegadungan, Kamal, and Semanan), North Jakarta (the sub-districts of Pejagalan and Kamal Muara), and East Jakarta (the sub-districts of Ceger, Bambu Apus, Dukuh, and Munjul).

“As we noted, the total number of affected people [by drought] amounted to 27,796,” Iwan added.

In addition to the dry season, Jakarta was also scorched by hot air during the past few days. The BMKG said in a statement that this was attributable to the sun’s movement in the southern equator or due to the apparent motion of the sun on the southern parts of the equator, which included Indonesian areas.

M YUSUF MANURUNG