City cracks down on illegal groundwater use

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta administration has sealed off artesian wells sunk illegally at 246 houses in its latest effort to control the use of ground water.

In an operation from January to July, the administration closed 181 household wells in Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta and another 65 wells in Kapuk, North Jakarta.

"The owners changed the wells into artesian wells, with some being more than 40 meters deep," the head of City Mining Agency, Arifin Akbar, said.

Households which drill wells deeper than 40 meters must first obtain permission from the administration.

The administration and the City Council are currently deliberating a proposal to expand water levies to include domestic as well as industrial users.

Arifin, who met with councilors to discuss the plan yesterday, said uncontrolled exploitation of ground water would cause subsidence, and also lead to salt water intrusion.

He disclosed that levies were planned for households which use more than 50 cubic meters of water a month.

"The plan is aimed at controlling the use of ground water for households in Jakarta, especially to reduce the use of artesian wells," the head of Commission D for public works, Ali Wongso, Sinaga said yesterday.

Separately, Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said the planned water tax was aimed at preserving the city's ground water resources.

"Don't take this as a burden, but think for the future generations. We don't want our children to suffer because of what we do today," he said after installing new officials in his office.

Arifin said that pending the outcome of the deliberations, the administration would intensify supervision of factories' and hotels' water use.

At present, 3,123 artesian wells have been registered with the administration. The actual number was much higher, Arifin said.

Ali said many factories in the outskirts of Jakarta avoided paying water taxes by taking water from adjacent townships such as Bogor, Tangerang or Bekasi.

Every year, Jakarta taps some 33 million cubic meters of ground water, still within the 48 million cubic meters limit imposed by the administration, Ali said.

"Although it is not over the limit, the ground water must be preserved and people have to conserve it," he said.

Ali urged residents to switch from ground water to water supplied by PDAM Jaya, the city-owned drinking water company.

PDAM currently supplies water to up to 36 percent of Jakarta's population of more than nine million people. (07)