Request For 4 Drought-affected Villages On Lombok Island, BPBD Already Supply 165 Thousand Liters Of Clean Water

Illustration. Residents in Sukaluyu District, Cianjur, affected by drought are supplied with clean water using a tank truck belonging to PMI. (ANTARA-Ahmad Fikri).

NTB - The Social Service (Dinsos) of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province has distributed as much as 165 thousand liters of clean water during drought in the dry season that hit Lombok Island.

"So until August 2023 we have distributed 165,000 liters of clean water on the island of Lombok. If on Sumbawa Island there is a local Social Service and BPBD that handles it," said Head of the NTB Social Service, Ahsanul Khalik in Mataram, NTB, Monday 11 September, confiscated by Antara.

He said the distribution of clean water was based on requests from the community and village heads in four districts on the island of Lombok.

The four districts are East Lombok, Central Lombok, West Lombok and North Lombok.

Meanwhile, Mataram City does not exist because it is not affected by drought.

"The distribution of this water is if there is a request from the community and village heads. This means that this distribution is according to the needs of the community. Because in real terms the core task is in BPBD NTB and districts/cities," he said.

Ahsanul Khalik admitted that to distribute clean water, his party deployed three water tanker trucks containing 5,000 liters. These waters were then brought to villages experiencing severe drought.

However, his party did not prepare a special budget, because of the budget needs issued for operational needs of tank cars, drivers and disaster preparedness cadets (Tagana).

"If we don't buy water, we don't buy it because we collect the water in Sara Sute. Even if the costs we pay are for the operational costs of the driver, officer, car and fuel," said AKA as he is familiarly called.

Apart from Social Services, the distribution of clean water is also carried out by district and city governments, including NGOs and government institutions, such as the TNI and Polri.

"If we are in the Social Service, there is no special budget, but the disaster management budget is incidental. So it's normal every year, drought knows it's still the same even though El-Nino doesn't have anything to drink and shower," he said.

Based on information compiled by the NTB Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) as many as 577,025 residents in 335 villages in NTB experienced clean water difficulties due to the impact of severe drought.

"As of August 21, 2023, the number of residents affected by drought in NTB has reached 577,025 people or 163,699 families (KK)," said the Head of BPBD NTB, Ahmadi.

He said the 577,025 people were spread across 335 villages, 70 sub-districts in nine districts and cities in NTB, starting from West Lombok Regency, Central Lombok, North Lombok, East Lombok, West Sumbawa, Sumbawa, Dompu, Bima and Bima City.

"Of the 10 regencies and cities in NTB, only Mataram City is not affected by drought," he said.

He explained that efforts to help residents affected by the drought, his party together with districts and cities had distributed clean water.

"The distribution of water by districts and cities has been carried out since the beginning of the drought from June, July, August. This means that they have been sending tank water for almost three months independently. Now fortunately we are assisted by BWS, Ministry of PUPR," he said.

According to him, if you look at the dry season in NTB, it has now experienced an escalation towards the peak of drought which is expected to occur from September to October 2023.

"It is true that we currently feel that especially areas that do not have the potential for surface water, do not have a source of groundwater, namely shallow wells or drill wells. Or areas that do not have a PDAM pipeline or village span pipe network," he said.