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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