Government Drills Artesian Wells To Forestall Worst Impact Of Drought

YOGYAKARTA, Sept 14 (Antara) - Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said the ministry would drill more artesian wells to forestall any disaster when the current drought reaches its worst in a number of areas in the country. "Under emergency situation, the government would drill deep wells," Basuki said after attending the annual scientific congress of the Indonesian Association of Experts in Groundwater(PIT PAAI) 2017 here on Wednesday. He said there are around 6,900 artesian wells all over Indonesia including 488 well for clean water and the rest for irrigation. Currently more artesian wells are being drilled in a number of areas known to be prone to lengthy drought such as in Pati, Central Java (two well) and Sukabumi in West Java (three wells) with water supplying capacity of up to 20 liters per second. "We also will drill wells in Sumbawa, East Lombok and West Lombok," the minister said. He said it would not take long time to drill a well and artesian wells could be used to meet household water requirement every year water. "Process of drilling would be completed in one or two weeks," he said. Basuki predicted drought in a number of areas would not be last too long , saying according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics office in October, 2017 , rain would begin to fall. "Therefore, there would be no problem in water supply," he said.