Flood fighters face difficult challenges<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The municipal agencies responsible for flood
\nprevention face three tremendous problems which must be solved or
\never larger portions of the capital will continue to vanish under
\nwater every rainy season.<\/p>\n
The first problem is domestic and industrial waste.<\/p>\n
Many of the city's residents are still having problems
\nproperly disposing of household waste, Antara news agency
\nreported.<\/p>\n
All 13 rivers in Jakarta are clogged with garbage. The
\ncondition of the Cisadane, Ciliwung and Sunter rivers illustrate
\nthe problem graphically.<\/p>\n
The Municipal Public Work's Office can manage to remove only
\n250 cubic meters of garbage from the city's rivers during each
\nclean-up sweep. This leaves around 650 cubic meters of trash to
\nfloat out to sea, while another 450 cubic meters sinks to the
\nbottom of the rivers.<\/p>\n
Chief of the City Public Works Office Soeharto said that the
\noffice spends around Rp 3 billion a year for cleaning trash out
\nof the rivers. The office also allocates an additional Rp 1.2
\nbillion for the repair of major water ducts.<\/p>\n
Soeharto was quoted by Antara as saying that the cost could be
\nreduced if the people, especially those living along river
\nbanks, dumped their garbage in the proper places.<\/p>\n
The second problem encompasses the decreasing number of water
\ncatchment sites as land is claimed for construction and other
\npurposes, and the illegal construction of buildings along river
\nbanks. Many of the illegal structures are put up by squatters.<\/p>\n
Soeharto said that the existence of the illegal structures
\nalong river banks has narrowed the river channels from 15 meters
\nto only six meters in places.<\/p>\n
Soeharto said the office has cleared away illegal buildings
\nfrom along the banks of the Ciliwung River and relocated the
\nsquatters to low-cost apartments.<\/p>\n
An executive from the Ciliwung and Cisadane Rivers Maintenance
\nDepartment, Suwardi S. said that the rapid growth encroachment of
\nshopping centers, as well as housing estates, onto natural water
\ncatchment areas has caused rain to fail to be absorbed optimally
\ninto the soil.<\/p>\n
"Cemented and asphalted spaces cannot absorb the rain, so
\nlarger amounts of water flow into the drainage ditches and the
\nrivers," he said.<\/p>\n
Parks<\/p>\n
To face this challenge the city park office is now trying to
\ndevelop as many public parks as possible. The chief of the parks
\noffice, Syamsir Alam, said that the municipal administration is
\nplanning to reclaim 250 public parks that have been converted to
\nother purposes from 1994 to 1997.<\/p>\n
The chief of the Municipal Cemetery Office is also taking part
\nin the efforts to cope with the challenge by issuing a new
\nregulation, which stipulates a standard design for graves in
\nJakarta. The ordinance forbids the use of bricks or concrete in
\nthe construction of tombs.<\/p>\n
The third problem, which has made wider segments of the
\ncapital prone to seasonal flooding, is the illegal use of deep
\nground water wells.<\/p>\n
The chief of the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Public
\nWorks, Dargono Danoeprawiro, said that over the last 12 years the
\nland surface in several places in the city has sunk up to 50
\ncentimeters.<\/p>\n
He said this will reach a level of four to five meters below
\nthe existing surface in another 50 years, if people continue
\ndrilling the deep wells.<\/p>\n
The municipal administration has ruled that owners of high-
\nrise buildings must have permits before driving wells.<\/p>\n
Dargono said the government is now trying to fulfill the
\npeople's demands for water from other sources.<\/p>\n
This challenge is probably the most difficult to face because
\nH. Poedjiono, PAM Jaya's business director, has said that the
\ncity-owned water company can supply only 58.8 percent of the
\ncity's total daily water demand of 1.7 million cubic meters.
\n(mas)<\/p>",
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