Several villages in Mandalay Region face severe water shortages

By Admin 08 May 2023

DMG Newsroom
8 May 2023, NyaungU, Mandalay Region

More than 40 villages in NyaungU Township, Mandalay Region, are facing drinking water shortages during the summer months, according to local people.

There are over 160 villages in the Bagan and NyaungU region and over 40 villages are experiencing the most acute drinking water shortages.

As NyaungU Township is located in the country’s “dry zone”, rural residents face the problem of water shortages every year. The Phyusin Myitta water donation association, a local charity in NyaungU Township, distributes water four times a day in three eight-wheeled vehicles to villages where drinking water is scarce.

“As the weather gets hotter, people need more water. The demand for water is quite high this year. People are running out of drinking water. In previous years, the water shortage was not so bad,” said U Tint, an in-charge of the Phyusin Myitta water donation association.

Locals in NyaungU Township rely mainly on tube wells for drinking water throughout the year, and villages without tube wells suffer more from the scarcity of drinking water during the summer.

NyaungU residents said that last year’s rainfall was insufficient, and this year’s rising temperatures have caused even large lakes to dry up prematurely and tube wells to be damaged.

“We have to rely on water from the donors,” said U Then Soe, a local resident of NyaungU Township.

The temperature in NyaungU reached 44 degrees Celsius last month, according to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.