Gunungkidul Declares Drought Emergency and Stocks Clean Water
- 23 Jun 2026 16:11 WIB
- Voice of Indonesia
Key Points
- Gunungkidul has declared an emergency drought status from 1 June to 31 August 2026 in anticipation of worsening dry-season conditions.
- The decision is based on BMKG forecasts, which predict the dry season will begin in June, intensify in July, and reach its peak in August.
RRI.CO.ID, Yogyakarta - As forecasts point to a worsening dry season, Gunungkidul’s disaster agency in Yogyakarta Province, has moved to secure water supplies by declaring an emergency drought status from 1 June to 31 August 2026. In preparation, the agency has stocked millions of liters of potable water.
The decision, formalized in a regent’s decree, was confirmed by Purwono, head of the Gunungkidul Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD). “We have submitted the proposal letter to the regent and it has been signed,” he said in Gunungkidul on Tuesday, 23 June 2026.
BPBD’s three-month emergency status follows climate projections from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), which predict the dry season will begin in June, deepen in July and peak in August. Gunungkidul Regency, located in the karst area, experiences drought every dry season.
“BMKG’s forecast is that the peak of the drought will be in August. June will start dry, July drier, and August the peak,” said Purwono, as quoted by Antara.
To prepare for possible shortages, BPBD has readied a fleet of response vehicles and a large stockpile of clean water for distribution. Purwono said there have been no formal requests for water-dropping operations to the agency so far, but all resources have been pre-positioned since early June.
“Our fleet is ready if an emergency occurs or if there are requests for water drops in Gunungkidul, even though to date no request letters have come into BPBD, but everything has been prepared,” he said.
BPBD’s operational capacity includes four dedicated water tank trucks, each with a 5,000-liter capacity, available to reach remote areas. In addition to the tanker trucks, the agency has assembled 800 water tanks, each holding 5,000 liters, totaling roughly 4,000,000 liters of potable water for drought response.
“Eight hundred tanks multiplied by 5,000 liters, so about 4,000,000 liters of clean water that we have prepared,” he said.
Purwono also noted that the BPBD fleet is in good condition following maintenance and can be deployed at short notice if needed. The early declaration and stockpiling aim to mitigate the social and economic impacts of projected water shortages during the peak of the dry season. ***
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