“One of the strongest El Niño events in recorded history remains entrenched across the equatorial Pacific Ocean,” said Guam-based weather officials in their latest drought update. The report said “all locations across the Marshall Islands are in a severe or extreme drought.”
They also predict that there will likely be “severe damage to food crops across the Marshall Islands.”
Majuro’s airport reservoir hit a critical milestone Tuesday, as water levels dropped below the half-way point for the first time since 2014.
Majuro Water and Sewer Company reports that water levels fell to 16.7 million gallons, under half of the 34 million gallon storage capacity at the reservoir.
With virtually no rain since February, Majuro people are making good use of the fresh water filling stations around the island by Public Works and filled by MALGov with CMI-produced reverse osmosis water. In Jenrok and Rita, hundreds flock daily to the water stations at Demontown and Rita Elementary School (RES). People walk over with their water bottles, coolers, and containers or bring them on wheelbarrows, shopping carts, bicycles, and taxis.
When you arrive, you get in line. Lines are caused by the drought, which has resulted in most people’s home water tanks being empty.
Reads more about this in the April 22, 2016 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.