City to supply water to Thousand Islands
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)