PENYELADI, Indonesia — After three months without rain, the Kapuas River near Penyeladi village has shrunk to a muddy stream that residents can’t safely drink from or use to wash rice, forcing families such as Sriwati’s to buy water. The river supplies more than 3 million people, and its falling level is disrupting daily life, work and travel across Borneo.
Sriwati, a shopkeeper and mother of three children, said private and government water donations had brought some relief, but residents still worry about the prolonged dry spell. “The water shortage affects us, especially when it comes to drinking water,” she told The Associated Press from her small, concrete home.
“I’m worried about this prolonged dry spell. It’s reached the point where just going about our daily activities — going anywhere at all — has become difficult. We’re facing water shortages, too,” Sriwati said. “I’m at a loss for words to describe it.”
What’s Driving the Shortage
Experts say this year’s super El Niño, along with decades of damage to Borneo’s peatlands, has contributed to the severe water crisis and intensified human-caused climate change. Peatlands are ancient wetlands that store carbon, regulate water and control pollution.
El Niño is a natural climate cycle involving warming ocean temperatures. This year’s event is expected to bring extreme drought, heat waves, flooding and other climate-related disruptions around the world. Meteorologists forecast it could exceed a record El Niño that began in 1997 and helped trigger billions of dollars in damage from heat waves, floods, droughts, tornadoes and wildfires.
Amanda Hurowitz, a senior director at international environmental organization Mighty Earth, said developers had drained about 60% of peatland areas in Kalimantan, the Indonesia-controlled part of Borneo, for palm oil plantations and pulp and paper concessions. “That means the water is not where it should be. There are all these canals, and because the canals are blocked, the water table goes low,” she said. “Because it’s so dry, the water has just disappeared.”
Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry acknowledged the negative impact of drained peatlands in a written statement. The ministry said evidence should determine specific causes and liabilities, rather than having them automatically attributed to El Niño or businesses. It said the government aims to prevent further degradation through ecosystem restoration and strict enforcement of concession holders’ obligations.
Fires, Haze and Lost Income
Hot, dry El Niño conditions and peatland degradation have also helped fires spread across Borneo. The Borneo Nature Foundation said dried peat is highly flammable, fires can spread underground and prove difficult to extinguish, and they are likely to recur. Dwindling water supplies have slowed firefighting. Japan has deployed firefighting assistance to the island.
Smoke has traveled more than 800 kilometers to the Philippines, while haze exceeded Malaysia’s emergency-level air-pollution threshold. Authorities declared an emergency last week in a town in Sarawak state on Borneo.
Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry recorded more than 202,000 hectares of burned land between January and July, an area almost three times the size of Singapore. The ministry said it is shifting policy toward prevention, using cross-sectoral coordination, enforcement against burning-based land clearing, expanded patrols and early-detection systems, risk-based monitoring, peatland restoration, and requirements for permit holders and communities to take responsibility for fire control.
In Sungai Malaya village in West Kalimantan, fires have burned for more than a month. Residents stay tense around the clock because fires have sometimes worsened suddenly at night. The fires destroyed vacant lots where Rumsiyeh, a 45-year-old mother of five, and her husband gathered ferns to sell at the market. “Everything’s gone. We can’t make a living anymore,” she said.
Low water has also affected boaters, fishers and others who depend on the Kapuas. Thick haze reduces visibility and makes travel dangerous where boats can still operate, fisherman Abiansah, 39, said. Large metal barges that usually carry oil palm tree kernels downriver for processing have run aground on sand; officials haven’t measured the national economic impact.
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