Artesian well and village wells
Artesian well and village wells
From Suara Karya
Reports Suara Karya carried Aug. 15 on page 3 on two incidents of unrest which broke out in two locations in Bandung, West Java, were indeed of great interest. In my opinion the first incident happened as a result of the payment of severance pay being continually postponed. The second incident, which happened in Cimekar village, occurred as a result of local people's worries over the possibility of their wells drying up because of the drilling of artesian wells by PT Bumi Mekar Indah.
The irony is there, especially with regard to the incident at Cimekar village. On the one hand, developers promote their houses by vowing to provide artesian wells in the housing estates they develop, without considering the impact it could have on the water levels of village wells. Then locals worry about their wells drying up. Developers cannot drill for artesian wells unless they have permits to do so. It is a pity that government agencies authorized to issue such permits so easily approve applications filed by developers for the drilling of artesian wells.
It is believed that local wells are not affected when water is pumped up from a depth of 140 meters to 160 meters. Presumably normal wells will not be affected by an artesian well of such a depth. It may well be true.
But try asking the community of Bbk H. Tamim, Cidurian, Cibeunying subdistrict, Bandung municipality and the locals of Cirabe, Cicadas village whether or not it is true that their wells do not dry up with factories establishing artesian wells. Also ask them why tap water supplied to their houses by regional water company PDAM is very scarce, even though they have to pay the minimum tariffs (despite the absence of water coming through to their houses).
Observe the plight of these people when a textile mill at Cimuncang uses artesian wells. Also inquire of Sindanglaya locals about their experiences with Naintex factory. It is really saddening to see how local people suffer if there are artesian wells around: their wells dry up, manual water pumps are useless and locals have to queue day and night for water distributed by factories. Please correct the belief that if water underneath is pumped up, the level of water above it will not go down.
We appeal to the government to exercise real caution before granting requests for permits to establish artesian wells. Do not just issue the permits without first considering the possible impacts, otherwise it is but we who will be in trouble.
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