NAHA, Okinawa — Even the Okinawa Drought Countermeasures Council agrees — Okinawa’s water crisis is over.
Some 17 inches of rain between May 28 and June 10, with additional scattered showers over the weekend, has boosted the water levels at the island’s nine major reservoirs to 87.7 percent of capacity.
And some of them, observers say, actually were overflowing.
“The average water level at nine reservoirs has recovered to almost normal levels for this time of the year, owing much to rain brought this week by seasonal rains and Typhoon Conson,” the council stated in a press release. The typhoon passed to the northwest of Okinawa, bringing much-needed rain but sparing the island from the typhoon’s high winds.
“A total precipitation in the area, where five nationally owned reservoirs are located, was 429 millimeters (17.2 inches) between May 28 and June 10,” The council stated. “Water levels at all nine reservoirs has recovered to 63,374,000 cubic meters (about 2.24 billion cubic feet).”
The average amount of water in the reservoirs for this time of year for the past seven years is 64,029,000 cubic meters (about 2.26 billion cubic feet), according to the council.
“The drought condition Okinawa faced this year was very severe,” the council stated. In February, they started making preparations for water rationing, which was set to begin with the overnight cutoff of water to the entire island March 29.
However, a storm just before the target date dumped enough rain to delay the mandatory rationing.
Voluntary water rationing on all U.S. military bases on Okinawa — which had been in effect since February — was rescinded Monday afternoon, said a Marine Corps spokesman.
The Okinawa Drought Countermeasures Council reported Monday that it was cautiously optimistic the water crisis is over.
“With the cooperation and understanding of people on Okinawa for water conservation, we managed to avoid a water outage despite drought conditions,” the council stated.
“After the rainy season is over, however, a full-scale summer is expected to arrive, the season when water demand sharply rises. We ask your continued cooperation in conserving water, our limited natural resource.”
Chiyomi Sumida contributed to this report.
