Photo Credit: Rus Akbar Saleleubaja. Retrieved from earthjournalism.net
Erminarti Sabelau (35), a resident of Bungo Rayo Hamlet, Sinaka Village, South Pagai Sub-district, Mentawai Islands Regency, Indonesia, rowed a canoe across the Tattanen River. She was carrying her three-year-old son. Inside the canoe were six 5-liter jerry cans filled with water.
She tied her boat to a cement ladder on the riverbank, where people usually moor their boats. On top of the ladder was her big jerry can. She transferred water from the six small jerry cans in the boat to the big jerry can. She went back and forth three times.
Erminarti fetches water twice a day. She has to go boating 200 meters away from the Bungo Rayo village and then walk another 200 meters. “We have been fetching water like this since last August, since the floods hit our village which caused the Pamsimas water channel to no longer flow to the houses,” Erminarti said on October 28, 2023.
Pamsimas—Community-Based Water Supply and Sanitation—is a national program to provide drinking water in villages. The Pamsimas water reservoir in Bungo Rayo Hamlet is located across the Tattanen River. The source of the water is from the upstream of the river, which is channeled by pipes. From the basin, the water is piped to the village.