JAKARTA, KOMPAS – This year’s dry season is normal compared to last year’s. However, severe drought has hit a number of areas, particularly in Java and Nusa Tenggara. This condition reveals that there has been a water deficit caused by environmental damage. A long-term solution is needed to overcome this problem, because the upcoming climate change suggests that the frequency of rainless days will grow.
Based on data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), more than 3.9 million people in 105 regencies/cities across Java and Nusa Tenggara are currently experiencing drought. “The trend for the (number of) areas experiencing drought is increasing compared to 2014, when 86 regencies/cities experienced drought,” said BNPB spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugrohoin Jakarta, Wednesday (13/9).
Interestingly, the current weather condition is relatively normal. “The rainy season in most of the regions in Indonesia is predicted to start at the end of October or November 2017. In some regions, the rainy season arrives earlier or later, but for most, it will be the same as usual or relatively normal,” said Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Weather Information and Forecast head Ramlan.
Based on BMKG data, the areas experiencing the most rainless days are eastern Java, some parts of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). “In NTT, there is a region that has experienced 120 days without rain, while on Java, some regions have experienced more than 60 days without rain, but the majority of regions have gone 30 days without rain. This condition is the same as the previous rainy season,” Ramlan said.
Growing hotter
In Central Java, 217 villages in 23 of a total 35 regencies/cities have been facing a water crisis. The number of villages affected by the water crisis is fewer compared to the same period last year, when 400 villages were hit by a water crisis. “However, the area of Banjarnegara, which in 2016 did not experience drought, now has 24 villages hit by drought and the clean water crisis,” said Central Java Disaster Mitigation Office head Sarwa Pramana in Semarang.
The condition, Sarwa said, shows that this year’s dry season is extremely hot. The slopes of Mt Sindoro-Sumbing, which was unaffected by drought last year, has been affected this year. The areas that are currently experiencing severe drought are the regencies ofPati, Rembang, Blora, Grobogan, Sragen, Demak, Kendal, Tegal, Banyumas, Brebes and parts of Wonogiri.
Sudarno, 45, a resident of Kaliajir village in Purwanegara district, Banjarnegara, also feels that the dry season this year is hotter than last year’s. “It is only three weeks into the dry season, and the water levelat the sources have fallen,” he said. Residents, he said, have also had to rely on clean water aid. Last year, the village saw no water crisis.
In Gresik regency, people have started to use the lake to wash and cook, because the wells have dried up. In Sidoarjo, this dry season’s water crisis has sparked an irrigation conflict among farmers. Around 42 hectares of paddy fields cultivated by 60 farmers in Besuki village are facing the threat of a failed harvest because of a lack of water.
Water deficit
According to Sutopo, the water available nationally is still sufficient to meet the needs of households, cities, agriculture and industry. “However, some islands are already experiencing a water deficit particularly on Java Island, Bali and in Nusa Tenggara,” he said.
A water budget study conducted by the Public Works Ministry in 1995 showed that Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara saw a surplus of water for five months during the rainy season, while during the dry season, they experience a water deficit for seven months. “This means the availability of water can no longer fulfil the water needs of the people of Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara,” Sutopo said.
A 2007 study by the National Development Planning Agency showed that the availability of water during the dry season in Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara was no longer sufficient to meet needs. Seventy-seven percent of its regencies/cities generally experience a water deficit of one to eight months in a year.
According to Sutopo, this water deficit is due to damaged river basin areas, environmental degradation, diminishing water catchment areas and high water pollution levels. “The water absorption capacity of soil has been exceeded,” he said.
The water crisis will worsen in the future, caused not only by the growing population, but also the changing trend in the weather. According to BMKG weather and climate researcher Siswanto, Indonesia will see more rainfall during the rainy season, while the dry season will also become more extreme. “The climate change phenomenon will trigger increasingly extreme weather,” he said.
Siswanto added that regions in Java and East Nusa Tenggara go through a long period of dry days caused by the peak of the dry season, which is controlled by easterly winds from the Australian continent. The Australian monsoon tends to push dry air of 50 percent humidity towards Indonesia.