City to enact new bylaw to prevent water crisis

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration will soon enact a new bylaw on waste water shafts to help protect Jakarta from another water crisis, an official said yesterday.

"The administration has been discussing the introduction of the bylaw since 1990," Prawoto Danumihardjo, an assistant to the city's administrative and development office, said.

The shafts are used to channel rain water, household waste water and runoff. The shafts are built using a combination of rocks, sand and palm fiber to filter the water before it is absorbed into the ground.

Gubernatorial Decree No. 17/1992 already outlines the use of shafts in administration offices and housing estates, he said. "But it is hard to popularize the decree because of a lack of awareness.

"During a prolonged dry season like this, however, people start shouting about the water shortage and blame us for it," Prawoto said at City Hall.

Once the bylaw is enacted, it would be more enforceable as it stipulates certain sanctions for violators, he said.

"Under the planned bylaw, any people intending to process building permits are obliged to build a waste water shaft."

The city has decided to set aside three areas as water catchment zones -- South Jakarta, Depok and East Jakarta.

"Those areas have been chosen to participate in the pilot shaft project because they have a deeper ground water level," Prawoto said. "It's impossible to make a waste water shaft in North Jakarta because of the salt water intrusion."

Currently there are about 100 shafts built in the city administration offices and housing complexes.

"The shafts were built jointly by the city public works agency and the city planning agency. They will continue the work after the bylaw is officially enacted," Prawoto said.

Under the planned bylaw a house on a 100- to 250-square-meter plot of land must be equipped with one shaft, houses on a 251- to 500-square-meter plot must have two shafts and those on a 501- to 1,000 square meters need three shafts. Houses built on plots which are larger than 1,000 square meters must have at least three shafts.

According to Prawoto, the administration hopes to officially declare the bylaw in December.

It has been proposed that Bandung, West Java, and Yogyakarta, Central Java, also participate in the shaft program. (07)