Some Kyaukphyu town residents face water scarcity

By DMG 15 Feb 2022

DMG Newsroom
15 February 2022, Kyaukphyu

Residents in the Ywathit neighbourhood of Nalapwe ward in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu are facing water shortages and are having to use salt water in some cases, according to locals.

There is only one lake in the ward, and residents are currently using saline water from a tube-well in Taungyin ward, more than a mile from the neighbourhood, locals told DMG.

“The Department of Rural Development dug a tube-well in Taungyin ward, about one mile from our neighbourhood, and supplied water to the residents last year,” U Kyaw Aung Chay, a resident of Nalapwe ward, told DMG. “But we used that water for about five days and abandoned the tube-well due to salinity. We repaired the tube-well in January this year on a self-reliant basis, but we still have to use saline water.”

In previous years, some people contracted diarrhoea due to the use of saline water and other unsafe water in the area, so they had to rely on water donated by other villages, locals said.

Ywathit neighbourhood has over 200 households and a population of more than 900 people, U Tun Tun Naing, an administrator of Ngalapwe ward, told DMG.

“We have reported these [water] problems to the local government. At the moment we are struggling and the local government has not responded to our request,” he said.

DMG phoned the Kyaukphyu Township Department of Rural Development, which has provided water supplies in previous years; an official said the department had done so in the past depending on budget allocation.

“The Department of Rural Development carried out the water supply task with the rural development budget. The resumption of water supply is no longer a matter of the rural budget, but of the township administration,” U Kyaw Win Naing, a staff officer of the Department of Rural Development, told DMG.

When DMG contacted the Kyaukphyu Township administrator, he said local authorities including himself had been informed about the matter.

“A tube-well about 100 feet deep can be dug on that side [of Kyaukphyu]. To solve this problem, we have rented a machine that can dig 3,000 feet. We will try to dig wells this week that are 300 to 500 feet deep in two or three areas where water is scarce. If it is not OK, we are planning to negotiate with the township development committee to address water scarcity.”