KUCHING: Sarawak is distributing bottled drinking water and sending water tankers to communities affected by supply disruptions as the dry spell continues, says Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah.
The state Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister said rural communities dependent on rainwater and gravity-feed systems were among the hardest hit by the prolonged dry weather.
“There are places using gravity-feed systems where the water source has dried up.
“River levels and water intake points are also declining, which can affect the amount of water available for treatment and distribution to homes,” she told reporters after launching a Women@Work event in Kota Samarahan on Wednesday (Sept 2).
Fatimah said the state Welfare Department (JKM) was coordinating aid with the Sarawak Rural Water Supply Department (JBALB).
JKM is distributing bottled drinking water, while JBALB is supplying water using tankers and lorries.
From January to Aug 26, JKM distributed 450,584 boxes of drinking water to 49,523 families comprising 225,822 people across Sarawak.
On Aug 31 alone, 750 1.5-litre bottles were distributed to 375 people from 94 families in two villages in Lundu and Lingga.
Meanwhile, JBALB tankers and lorries made 680 trips from Aug 18 to 29, delivering 3.3 million litres of water to affected areas in Betong, Samarahan, Limbang, Sri Aman and Miri.
Fatimah urged affected communities to inform their respective district or divisional disaster management committees if they require assistance.
She said bottled water would be distributed based on household size and the duration for which assistance was needed.
“We hope and pray that the situation will improve. Hopefully, the cloud-seeding operation will produce good results at our water catchment areas,” she said.
A three-day cloud-seeding operation is scheduled to begin in Sarawak on Thursday (Sept 3), subject to favourable weather conditions.
