By LAWI WENG
More than 20 coastal villages in Laputta Township in the Irrawaddy delta are facing freshwater shortages due to saltwater contamination in pools and sources, according to a nongovernmental organization (NGO) based at the Thai-Burmese border.
Mahn Mahn, a spokesman for the Emergency Assistance Team (EAT-Burma), said a water crisis is pending as reserves of freshwater run out during the hot season (March to May) while other sources of freshwater remain affected by the surge of seawater from Cyclone Nargis last year.
At the moment, he said, many people were using water which is mixed with seawater.
In December, Merlin, an international NGO that provides cyclone relief in the Irrawaddy delta, warned that some 78,000 people will be affected by water shortages.
A doctor currently working in Laputta told The Irrawaddy that a villagers were allocated only two bottles of drinking water per day per family plus one gallon of non-potable water for daily needs, such as cleaning clothes, bathing and toilets.
The sources said the water crisis started last month and will continue to get worse as there is no desalination project in the area.
“I treated several children with diarrhea at my clinic last month,” said the doctor. “I expect many more as the season gets hotter and water runs out.”
NGOs working in the delta currently hire trucks to transport water to people in affected areas. The sources said that the NGOs are planning to hire a ship to transport clean water to villages.
A local resident in Laputta said that locals were paying 600 kyat (US $0.50) for a gallon of water that they could order from a public ferry. However, local authorities allegedly ordered the ship to stop selling water to villagers.
Save the Children, a UK-based NGO working with cyclone survivors, said in December that they were worried about water shortages would be a threat to survivors in the summer.
Save the Children said that when the dry season kicks in, people will have fewer options to find clean water and there will be an increased risk of disease.
Many ponds and wells were destroyed by seawater when Cyclone Nargis and its subsequent tidal wave hit Laputta on May 2-3. At least 138,000 people were killed in the disaster.
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