City urged to cancel plan to divert upstream rivers
City urged to cancel plan to divert upstream rivers
JAKARTA (JP): The government was urged on Tuesday to cancel
its plan to alter the courses of upstream rivers into the
Cisadane River, which flows to Tangerang.
Speaking before city councilors in charge of development
affairs, city mining agency head Ali Rozi said it was a
deplorable idea that would cause water shortages in the capital.
"It's more important to preserve surface water by constructing
more dams to retain water in the city. This will prevent both
flooding and droughts," he told the councilors.
"Shifting the flow of the upstream rivers that run into the
city will cause droughts because there will be no surface water
available in the city during the dry season," he said.
Surface water, he said, is available up until a depth of
approximately 20 meters. While underground water is found between
two hard rock layers some 250 meters below the surface, he added.
Ali said the central government's idea would initially be
carried out by the State Ministry of Public Works.
During the meeting, he also said the city badly needed a water
management system to anticipate the increasing demand for fresh
water for its some 10 million residents and the vast number of
business users.
"The system should integrate flood control and water supply
systems," he said without elaborating further.
He said that constructing more artesian wells to absorb water
would help preserve surface water which, in turn, would also
preserve underground water reserves.
"The wells will absorb water during the rainy season, which
residents can then use during dry season. This way we can
preserve our underground water reserves," he said.
Ali explained that the city annually consumes between 12 and
15 million cubic meters of underground water from the available
reserves of 77 million cubic meters.
"However, it doesn't mean that we can exploit the resource at
our disposal."
He said there were a total of 3,102 deep wells in the city
already registered at the agency that, last year, generated some
Rp 30 billion (US$3.95 million) of revenue.
"We hope to earn some Rp 34 billion in the 1999/2000 fiscal
year and Rp 29 billion in the 2000 fiscal year," he added.
Ali denied allegations that the exploitation of underground
water had led to significant land subsidence in the city.
"Underground water is found between two hard rock formations,
so the exploitation of it is unlikely to cause drops in ground
surface levels here," he said. (05)