City to supply water to Thousand Islands

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration is to supply clean water free of charge to help overcome the current water crisis in the Thousand Islands in North Jakarta, Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said yesterday.

He said that the supply would be handled by the North Jakarta mayoralty in cooperation with the Navy and the city-owned water company PDAM Jaya.

The governor explained that a team from the city's five mayoralties had been set up to deal with drought problems in the capital.

Surjadi urged residents to be thrifty in using water. "Don't waste it, because the water supply, both from groundwater and PDAM is very limited," he said.

He said that every year the city had a special program to help Thousand Islanders get clean water. "The program includes the provision of containers and transportation to residents' homes in the Thousand Islands."

The Thousand Islands, with a combined area of 1.18 million square meters and home to 16,000 residents, are divided into four subdistricts: Tidung Island, Kelapa Island, Untung Jawa Island and Panggang Island.

Panggang Island has reportedly been the hardest hit by the water crisis.

The Panggang residents usually get their water from pooling rain water or buying recycled water from the Panggang subdistrict office.

The head of the city's environment bureau, Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, said yesterday that his bureau was planning to propose the use of water recycling technology to the governor.

"Besides being thrifty in using water, water waste must be recycled to produce clean water for the residents," he said.

"By recycling the water, we can produce clean water without polluting the environment," he said.

Aboejoewono declined to give details of the recycling plan.

He just said his bureau was preparing the right technology to help residents overcome their water crisis.

"This plan is very important because we cannot possibly rely only on ground or river water in the future," he added.

Research prepared by the University of Indonesia's Industrial Partnership Agency, that contains a draft on recycling techniques, would be seriously considered by his bureau.

According to the research, only 44 percent of Jakarta's population use PDAM Jaya's service. The rest using ground and river water.

It also stated that for the last three years, the Mangga Besar and Gunung Sahari areas in Central Jakarta have suffered from land subsidence of about 44 to 60 centimeters. The subsidence is believed to be caused by the mushrooming of artesian and deep wells installed in the area. (07)