All 40-meter deep wells are polluted by domestic waste

All 40-meter deep wells are polluted by domestic waste

JAKARTA (JP): The city's mine and energy agency has asked
Jakartans not to drink water straight from wells as most 40-meter
deep wells in the city are polluted.

The head of the agency, Arifin Akbar, said over the weekend
that the well water has been contaminated by domestic waste,
resulting from residents' poor awareness of the proper
construction of septic tanks.

He cited the wells in densely-populated neighborhoods where
the residents do not have enough space to build septic tanks at
an ideal distance from wells as being a particular problem.

Ideally, a septic tank should be built at least ten meters
from a well.

"Some houses even have no septic tanks at all and dump their
waste straight into the rivers," he said.

Research by the Japan International Cooperation Agency in 1991
found that 73% of water taken from 30 wells in North Jakarta and
Central Jakarta was contaminated by human excrement from septic
tanks.

The pollution has been taking place for more than a decade.
And the city administration has found it difficult to deal with
the problem, which is lingering in line with the increase in
population.

Officials and researchers have warned residents many times of
the contaminated well-water, but research on the residents who
have consumed such polluted water for years has yet to be made
public.

The fact that the city-owned tap water company PAM Jaya has
not been able to serve all residents with clean water exacerbates
the situation. "The use of groundwater cannot be avoided,
therefore," Arifin said.

According to official data, only 45 percent of Jakartans are
served by the city-owned water company, PAM Jaya. 7.5 percent are
using artesian wells, which are more than 40 meters deep, and the
remaining 47.5 percent are using shallow wells, which are 40
meters or less in depth.

"This means almost half of Jakarta's residents are consuming
the shallow-well water. They should be extra careful by boiling
the water before consuming it," he said.

Since the quality of water from shallow wells is
deteriorating, many people now prefer using artesian wells. This
has, however, caused another serious environmental problem,
especially in groundwater preservation.

In an effort to control the exploitation of groundwater,the
city administration charges higher fees from owners of artesian
wells.

The high fees have been able to decrease the use of
groundwater from 2.8 million cubic meters a month in February to
1.9 million cubic meters in March.

According to data provided by the mine and energy agency there
are 2,871 artesian wells in Jakarta and it sealed 150 wells last
year.

Artesian wells are any wells which are between 40 and 250
meters in depth.

Appeals to residents to build water catchment wells is another
of the administration's steps to preserve groundwater.

As many as 459 catchment wells have been built throughout the
city and each can absorb 1.4 cubic meters of water per hour.

"We have also built an injection well in Kapuk Kamal to
preserve the groundwater. The well can contain 200 cubic meters
of water per day," he said. Unlike water catchment wells which
hold rain water, artesian wells receive water, taken by people
through tanks, from the river. (yns)