Experts call for thorough solution to flood crises

Experts call for thorough solution to flood crises

BANDUNG (JP): Experts are calling for comprehensive, well- planned water management as a way to solve the problem of flooding in big cities.

Arwin Sabar, a professor of hydrology at the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology, seconded an earlier call made by ecology expert Otto Sumarwoto at Padjadjaran University for the government to establish a ministry or special agency in charge of water management.

"We have a special land agency, so it would be logical if the government also set up a water agency to coordinate water use by sector," Arwin told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

"Industries, households, public works, environmental agencies, the electricity company, they all need water. These differing needs should be coordinated," he said.

Otto has earlier this month identified a number of factors causing the frequent floods in Jakarta, which during the past two months have killed at least 32 people and caused an estimated Rp 90 billion (approximately US$ 38.7 million) of material losses.

Among the factors are the city's topographical conditions, with the town practically on sea level during high tides, and the erosion of meandering rivers.

The conditions are aggravated by human factors, such as the die-hard habit of littering, the destruction of water catchment areas by real estate developers, and the major consumption of water by industry.

Otto suggested that one of the ways to avoid the frequent water crises, both in the forms of flooding or shortage, is by reducing environmentally damaging activities in big cities, such as Jakarta. "For instance, there should be a decentralization of activities from Jakarta to other cities," Otto wrote in Kompas on Feb. 14. "Put bluntly, the capital should be moved elsewhere."

Arwin said Otto was calling for a more comprehensive handling of the problem, rather than for an actual moving of the capital. "Moving the capital won't solve environmental problems. It would spawn new problems in other places, in other big cities," he said.

He criticized what he described as poor spatial zoning in Jakarta and the authorities' tendency to apply quick-fixes to problems. The government's plan for a waterway to divert the flow of Ciliwung River flow to Cisadane River, for instance, would only be effective for one river.

"But what would happen if both rivers overflow because of heavy rains in the Bogor-Puncak-Cianjur water catchment area where most of the city's 13 rivers originate?" he said.

In the wake of the devastating floods, the government has decided on a number of measures to prevent further problems. A presidential decree was recently issued to tighten control of development in the so-called "BoPunJur" region.

In line with the decree, the National Spatial Planning Coordination Board has recommended that building activities in the designated water catchment areas be stopped, old plantations be changed into forests, and more water catchment pits be built.

Environmentalist groups, spearheaded by the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi), have also urged the Jakarta administration to scrap its plan to reclaim 2,700 hectares of Jakarta Bay.

The forum said the reclamation project would only worsen the city's flooding problem because it would obstruct water flow into the bay.

Arwin, however, said reclamation was acceptable provided that efforts are made to protect the environment. "With the appropriate technology, reclamation could even help overcome the problem of flooding," he said.

The private sector, which has a vital interest in water management, should be involved to a greater extent, he said, adding that the private sector would probably make a better job of it. The authorities are more likely to just collect money in the form of fees and levies, and leave things as they are. (17)