The Padang city PDAM tap water company, which supplies around 60 percent of the city's drinking water, has been totally paralyzed due to the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck West Sumatra province last week. 

As a result, residents lack clean water for their daily needs, such as for washing and bathing, while the PDAM and the public works office have dispatched water tankers to a number of places for drinking and cooking uses. However, not all city residents have access to the service. A resident in Falamboyan, Sri Setyawati, 42, said she was forced to get water from her well-owning neighbor and elder sister who live 2 kilometers from her.

Amid floods and heavy rains in parts of the country, a number of areas on the northern coast of West Java are facing a clean water crisis due to a prolonged dry spell. The water crisis has hit a number of districts in Cirebon, Indramayu and Majalangka regencies, where thousands of residents face difficulties obtaining clean water.

The West Java provincial administration, through the West Java Administrative and Development Coordinating Agency (BKPP), has provided nine tanker trucks to supply clean water to areas affected by the dry spell in the three regencies. "Every regency will get three tankers to supply clean water to those facing difficulties getting clean water. Each tanker is able to carry 5,000 liters of water," said Ano, the head of the BKPP.