A number of residents in the Irrawaddy Division town of Myanaung are suffering from a shortage of fresh water as local wells dry up in the heat of dry season.

“We have to buy fresh water and sometimes have to hike up to the creek to bathe,” said a local man in Myanaung ward 4.

A woman from the ward 6 neighbourhood added: “I am so frustrated that I want to move away, but I cannot afford to.”

Local fire department staff and sympathisers have begun distributing water in the ward 4 and 6 neighbourhoods. However, said fireman Aung Moe, an official effort must be led by the government to deal with the issue in the long term.

“In cooperation with local residents, the municipal government should plan to dig tube wells,” he said. “Otherwise the problem will persist in coming back every year.”

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Ward 4 resident Kyi Than called on local authorities to install a water supply system.

“If the municipality can build us a water pipeline and pay for it with our taxes, then that would be very convenient,” he said.

Myanaung is located on the banks of the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) River, some 275 north of Rangoon.