Kupang City Continues to Reel Under Water Crisis

Kupang (Antara NTT) - Of the 51 sub-districts in the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) provincial city of Kupang, 48 are still experiencing a water crisis due to the long spell of dry season.

"To overcome the problem, we have requested for 500 additional water tanks to meet the the demand of people in drought-hit areas," local Regional Disaster Mitigation Board Chief Ade Manafe remarked here on Wednesday.

Manafe said the current budget allocation only allows for the provision of 100 water tanks, so he has sought additional funds from the National Disaster Management Agency in Jakarta to provide 500 tanks.

NTT Province is categorized as among the most arid regions in Indonesia due to which it is prone to severe drought that hits the province annually.

Currently, every district in the province has been hit by prolonged and severe drought since the past several months.

Springs have dried up in thousands of villages in the province`s 22 districts, and the local authorities have sought clean water supplies for the local inhabitants.

Last August, the Sabu Raijua district administration had declared a severe drought emergency status, as the entire region was affected by the extreme dry season.

Several district administrations are supplying clean water sufficient only for drinking and cooking but not for bathing and washing. The local villagers have to draw water from rivers for bathing and washing purposes.

The Kupang meteorology, climatology, and geophysics station has forecast that the rainy season in NTT will begin in late October and last until December 2017 for NTT.

There are several seasonal zones in NTT, according to Apolinaris Geru, head of the Kupang meteorology and climatology stations.

For seasonal zones in the districts of northern West Manggarai, Manggarai, East Manggarai, and northern Ngada in western Flores Island, the rainy season will begin in October 2017.