Even as several parts of Yangon sweated through water outages thanks to leaky pipes this week, city authorities promised there would be enough water to last the hot season.
“Although it is expected to be hot this year, we will store more water in our reservoirs than in previous years,” Myo Thein, deputy head of the Water and Sanitation Division of the Yangon City Development Committee told the Irrawaddy.
The city is expecting high temperatures and low rainfall, thanks to the unusually strong El Niño this year, but authorities say reservoirs have 2 billion more gallons of water than last year.
They are also changing the way water is supplied to some areas – like Dala Township, which suffers annual water shortages and locals have been forced to rely on lake water.
This year, officials say they will pipe water to Dala, and other areas including Kyimyindaing and Seikgyikanaungto, from the four reservoirs that supply the city.
On March 9, there was almost 86 billion gallons of water in the reservoirs – as compared to 84 billion the year before.
They also said there would be no water reductions during the Water Festival to mark Myanmar’s New Year in April.
We’re not making any promises, though. Remember the embarrassing blame game that ensued between various government departments during outages last year? Even if there’s enough water, there might not be enough electricity to pump it…
