NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THIS YEAR'S DROUGHT

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 19 (ANTARA) - The current drought which had caused water crises and affected 95,891 hectares of rice fields in the country is unlikely to create worst impacts and escalate extensively beyond the normal level.          According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the current drought which had taken place for about two months is still categorically normal and that there is no need to worry about.          "As predicted by the BMKG,  in this September some parts of Indonesia is undergoing dry season, yet the dry spell is still within the normal level," BMKG Head for information Prabowo said.          If the weather this time is felt exceptionally hot and a number of regions in the country are suffering from drought and water crisis it is because of the dry spell, where rain does not fall in a period of several consecutive days.          "Much less if compared with that in 2010 when it was a wet dry season or during which rain often fell, the dry season this year is felt too strong, yet in term of annual variations the drought this year is still within the normal limits," Prabowo said.           The ongoing drought has been taking place for about two months and has created water crises in many parts of Java, Indonesia's most densely populated island, causing residents to consume dirty water or purchase costly clean water.           In East Java for example, the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has reported that the drought   has spread to 29 districts.           "We don't think that residents in the municipality are being affected by the dry spells because they are served by the tap water company PDAM, yet there must be villages or subdistricts in 29 districts which are facing critical water," Head of East Java's BPBD for Prevention and Alertness Affairs, Sudaisman said here on Sunday.           But he could not point out the names of villages and sub districts which were being affected by water crisis.          "The provincial government officials have had a meeting with representatives of the 29 districts, some of which said they had been facing water crisis," he said.           The current drought has  caused  water crisis not only in East Java but also its neighboring provinces of Central Java, West Java and Banten.           In Central Java, water crisis also hit thousands of residents, among others in the districts of Klaten, Tegal and Sleman. Some 3,000 residents in Kalinyamat Kulon village, Margadana subdistrict, Tagal city  are also facing water scarcities for household needs such as for cooking, bathing and other needs.         "We all have to purchase water from residents who have artesian wells for cooking, washing and bathing. Some others still used wells which still had muddy water," Subroto, head of RT 08 RW 02 neighborhood of Kalinyamat village said.          Besides in  East and Central Java, water crisis is also affecting locals in West Java. Head of Sukabumi's Environment Office, Rudi Djuansyah said drought now had caused the water volumes of rivers and wells to drop drastically.          "The water volumes of 27 rivers that ran through Sukabumi areas dropped drastically by about 40 percent," Rudi. The volume of River Cimandiri water, for example, declined by 15 cubic meters per second.          The decline in the water volumes in Sukabumi had caused the drop of irrigation water for agriculture and fisheries. Fishery and agriculture production will be affected, Rudi said.          According to Prabowo, the scarcities of water were also caused by the increased usage of water during the dry spell for agriculture which needed constant water supplies but on the other hand the water stock was declining.         The drought has affected rice fields in the country. Although it has affected 95,891 hectares of rice fields in various regions, yet it is still considered within the normal level. Of the total, about 3,713 hectares have failed to produce harvestable yields.          Agriculture Minister Suswono said the number was still lower than last year.          He said besides drought, floods and insects had so far also been the causes of harvest failures.  During the past eight months in 2011, the number of rice fields affected by floods was recorded at 115,851 hectares and 16,471 hectares of them had failed to produce a harvest.           The number of rice fields affected by plant organisms in the period reached 577,015 hectares and 35,454 hectares of them had failed to produce harvest because of that. In all total rice fields that failed to produce harvest from January to August 2011 reached 55,638 hectares.          "It is still below the average areas in the past five years recorded at around 100,000 hectares a year," the minister said.          He said the government had provided Rp374 billion to help farmers who had failed to harvest.          Therefore, it is expected that this year's drought would not bringing worse impacts, though several parts of the country have experienced minor impacts. After all, rain has also begun to fall in a number of regions.          Western Sumatra, namely areas from Aceh, North Sumatra until Riau provinces, will begin to receive rain at the end of this month or in the middle of October. In the meantime, the eastern areas of Sumatra, like West Sumatra, South Sumatra and Lampung, will enter the rainy season at the end of October or early in November.          Provinces in Java, from Banten, West Java, Central Java and East Java, are expected to enter the rainy season at the end of October or early November, according to the BMKG.***4*** (T.A014/A/H-NG/00:15/a014) 20-09-2011 00:21:2