Bandung faces water crisis

BANDUNG, West Java: The fast growing northern part of the city will face a severe water crisis if the municipal office fails to control real estate development there, an academic warns.

Arwin Sabar, an expert in groundwater, said that large-scale housing projects are eating up more than 2,500 hectares of irrigated agricultural land in northern Bandung, Antara reported. "The projects are also encroaching on protected forest." (pan)