Catchment wells already in use

Catchment wells already in use

JAKARTA (JP): At least 1,000 houses in Jakarta have already
been furnished with catchment wells under the guidance of the
City Environmental Office, an official said.

"Most of the 1,000 houses with the catchment wells are in
housing complexes," Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, the head of the
environment office, said over the weekend.

"The catchment wells help maintain underground water levels.
They are also effective in preventing floods," he added.

The city administration is trying to control artesian well
use, fearing that excessive use will speed up the intrusion of
seawater into the capital's ground water.

Aboejoewono said underground water usage must be limited.
Stricter permit procedures are needed to avoid further
degradation of the capital's land and water systems.

To accomplish this, the city raised household, commercial,
social and industrial artesian well fees between 150 and 250
percent last month. The state-owned water company, PAM Jaya, is
expected to be able to provide well-water to the public.

"The rapid growth in construction and the population has
severely damaged a number of water catchment areas," Aboejoewono
said.

"We have to be very careful with underground water because its
existence depends on us. Trees are badly needed to help hold
rainwater in the water catchment areas," he vouched.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said recently that the city's
underground water potential is approximately 77 million cubic
meters per year, enough to support the rise in water demand for
the next ten years.

Of the 77 million cubic meters, 40 million cubic meters is
from rain seeping into the ground, the other 37 million cubic
meters is from the hilly Puncak area south of the city, he said.

Surjadi said that based on geological data, rainwater levels
in the city reach about 300 million cubic meters annually, of
which 260 million cubic meters seep into the upper level of the
earth. The other 40 million cubic meters sink to a greater depth.

It is estimated that the sustainable utilization limit of
existing water sources is 42 million cubic meters a year.

Data at the City Mining office indicates that there are 2,959
artesian wells in the city. They consumed over 2.8 million cubic
meters of water in March. (31)