Bogor lost Ciliwung river to Jakarta's interest

Bogor lost Ciliwung river to Jakarta's interest
or
Ciliwung river drained to help Jakartans

Theresia Sufa
The Jakarta Post
Bogor

Bogor has been known as the city of rain. The city has always
been blamed for "sending floods" to Jakarta.

Now, fogs and rainclouds, that usually covered the area from
Puncak to Bogor city, are nowhere to be found.

Ironically, residents have started to scream demanding water.

The dry season, that has come since April, has damaged crops
in villages around Bogor and emptied residents wells.

The drought was severe enough that it was necessary to drain
the Ciliwung river flowing to Bogor in order to provide enough
water debit to Kali Baru river that flowed through Ciluar,
Cibinong, Cimanggis, Cisalak and especially Jakarta, an official
told The Jakarta Post early this week.

Andi Sudirman, the supervisor of Katulampa dam, said that if
the Ciliwung river flowing to Bogor was not drained then the Kali
Baru river in Jakarta would literally be dry and consequently
there would be an enormous pile of trash along it.

He also said that letting Kali Baru river to dry would affect
farms and rice fields along the riverbanks in villages before
Jakarta.

The Katulampa dam was established in 1911 by the Dutch
Colonial to dam up Ciliwung river before Bogor city in order to
redirect some of the flow to an irrigation path called Kali Baru.

According to Andi, the water debit in the dam could reach
between 10,000 and 20,000 liters per second of which between
5,000 and 6,000 liters were redirected to Kali Baru while the
rest was released to the original course of Ciliwung river that
would go through Bogor city.

However, in this dry season, the total water debit in the dike
could only reach 1,600 to 1,700 liters per second, and therefore
all supply in the dike was directed only to Kali Baru, said Andi.

He said that the main reason of the decreasing water debit in
the dam was the declining water debit in Telaga Warna, a lake
located at the foot of Mount Gede-Pangrango which was the main
source for the dike.

Andi dismissed the worries that Ciliwung river in Jakarta
would be dry saying Cibalok river would refill the river near
Bogor city.

Separately, Director of Bogor Tap Water Company (PDAM), Pupung
Purnama, told the Post that his company had deployed every day
five water trucks to supply tap water for residents in Ciampea
and Jonggol.

He said that the water trucks supplied water not only to
customers in housing complexes but to also the residents in
villages.

Earlier, Yati Syafei, a resident of Katulampa village, East
Bogor, said that her well was dried.

"My eight-meter-depth well is dry and it needs more deepening
to get more water. We are lacking of water to drink," she said.

The company is underway in establishing a number of deep wells
in West Bogor areas that also having water scarcity even in rainy
season such as Leuwiliang, Parung and Jasinga, he said.

A deep well, which could supply water up to 15 liter per
second, would need a depth of 215 meters and between Rp 250
million (US$29,070) to Rp 300 million worth of fund, he said.

However, the establishment would meet a financial constraint
because the Bogor administration has never provided a penny for
deep well establishment.