Mandalay City is facing water shortages due to long power outages since Thingyan Festival, according to locals.

Electricity is needed to power water pumps which supply households with water, so when there is no power there is no water. At times there has been no water supply in the whole city.

A resident of the Mya Yi Nandar housing estate said: “Water cannot be pumped up from the well due to the lack of electricity. Residents in high-rise apartments have many difficulties.”

Except in Mandalay Palace, where junta soldiers and their families live, there have been long power outages in Mandalay since 18 April and on some days power is available for less than an hour.

“The power supply in Mandalay severely declined after the Thingyan festival. On some days there was no electricity supply for 24 hours, so we had no water supply from 20 to 23 April. Some people living close to the river bathed in the river, but most of us have to wait for water to be distributed by civil society organisations”, said a local.

Local volunteers are distributing tens of thousands of gallons of water every day in the city, but demand is much higher than supply.

“We are also trying to get a water truck to distribute water. Although the teams are distributing thousands of gallons each day, we cannot supply the demand. We are also distributing water at night time”, said a volunteer on condition of anonymity for security reasons.