WATER SHORTAGE HITS 14 TEMANGGUNG VILLAGES

Temanggung, Indonesia, Aug 22 (ANTARA) - As many as 41 villages in Central Java's Temanggung district are experiencing an acute shortage of clean water as draught has caused their traditional water sources to dry up, a local official said.

The 41 villages are located in 13 of Temanggung district's 20 sub-districts, among others the sub-districts of Bulu, Pringsurat, Kranggan, Kaloran, kandnangan, Jumo, Candiroto, Gemawang, the head of the Temanggung district administration's community protection unit, Agus Sudarsono, said here Saturday.
To help the villagers' meet their daily need for clean water, the district administration had initiated a water supply service which was sending water in mobile tanks to the affected communities on request.
At present, the service was sending out an average of 10 full tanks per day to the draught-hit villages, he said.

According to Sudarsono, the number of villages facing a water shortage in Temanggung district this year was 41, while in 2008 it was only 37.

Citing information from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), he said the peak of the dry season this year was expected to occur in Agustus-September.***