Czechia to Spend 60 Million Crowns on Water Tankers for Drought-Hit Villages

The Czech State Material Reserves Administration (SSHR) plans to invest roughly 60 million crowns in purchasing and upgrading water tanker trucks. The announcement came from SSHR spokesperson Švagr, amid a record-breaking drought that has left wells running dry across small municipalities nationwide.

Small villages left without water

According to Švagr, it is mainly the tiniest municipalities — those whose wells have dried up — that turn to the reserves administration for help. Following a recent working meeting, officials decided to use regional governors (hejtmans) to inform mayors, even in the smallest villages, about how to arrange the rental of water tankers.

Currently, most of the tankers in operation are serving small municipalities in the Klatovy, Rakovník and Rožmitál regions. Talks are also underway to supply equipment to the Znojmo district. “Given that we have several hundred tankers, the number currently in use isn’t critical at all. We still have plenty in reserve,” Švagr noted.

How municipalities obtain the tankers

He explained that it takes about six hours from signing the rental agreement to the tanker actually arriving in the village. Most of that time is spent not on delivery itself but on paperwork: the mayor must inform the administration who will be responsible for the rental and sign the contract on behalf of the municipality, and must also submit an assessment from the water management authority confirming that the request is justified.

Drought breaking records nationwide

According to InterSucho, a portal that monitors and analyzes drought conditions in Czechia, this year’s period of soil moisture deficit has been the longest on record — 30% of the country’s territory has been experiencing a moisture shortage since the very start of the year.

A week ago, the newly revamped National Drought Coalition, led by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO), convened to address the crisis. One of its first tasks was to map between 500 and 1,000 problem spots where water is disappearing fastest across the country. The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI) later reported identifying around 1,000 cadastral areas most vulnerable to drought. These include both traditionally dry regions with fast water runoff and highland areas where drought is normally rare — but which, during extreme periods, also dry out and need help retaining water.

The State Material Reserves Administration is the central Czech government body responsible for maintaining strategic stockpiles of raw materials and supplies in case of crises, disasters, or martial law.

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Source: ekolist.cz