Experts divided on Jakarta's prospects of water crisis

Experts divided on Jakarta's prospects of water crisis

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While agreeing that the supply of raw water from the Jatiluhur
reservoir in West Java was diminishing, experts differed on
Saturday as to whether or not the capital was facing a water
crisis.

Suryono Herlambang, an urban planning expert with the
Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Tarumanagara
University, called for measures to ensure that the capital would
still have water in the taps beyond 2008.

However, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a hydrologist with the Agency
for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), said
there was nothing to worry about.

"Jakarta has great potential to benefit from the use of
untapped ground water resources in the upstream areas, like in
Puncak and Bogor in West Java, where water is abundant," Sutopo
told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

"Maybe we need major investment to build pipeline
infrastructure, but that's only at the beginning. Afterwards, we
would not have to treat the water," he said, alluding to
technology used in other cities around the world, including
Munich in Germany.

Currently, the Jatiluhur reservoir supplies 75 percent of the
water needs of the capital. The water level in the 4,500-square-
kilometer reservoir, however, has dropped from the normal 98.84
meters to 92 meters.

PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya warned on Friday that unless the
government found new water sources, the capital could suffer a
severe water crisis as early as 2008.

Sutopo said that channeling ground water from the upstream
areas would be cheaper than using costly treated river water.

Sutopo, who is involved in the development of the Ciawi
reservoir in Bogor, West Java, said that the new reservoir would
be operational by 2007 and could provide additional water
supplies to Bogor and Jakarta.

Suryono, however, warned that Jakarta would be plunged into a
water crisis if the government failed to make efforts to address
the issue now.

"Personally, I am pessimistic that we can resolve the problem
quickly. What the administration can do now is to put the water
supply issue on its list of priorities ... The administration
could require every development in the city to set aside space
for water retention," said Suryono.

Sharing Suryono's concerns was Mochammad Ali, a hydrologist
with the Ministry of Public Works, who said that the
administration urgently needed to conduct a comprehensive study
of the city's water needs to anticipate an increasing population
and rapid development.

"It's our own fault as we never seriously took into account
the issue of water conservation when we started developing the
city. No wonder that now we see the city's water supplies
reaching critical point," he said.

He urged the administration to start looking for other water
sources, like the Ciliwung river and Cisadane river, to reduce
dependency on the Jatiluhur reservoir.

He did not recommend the use of ground water, however, saying
that excessive use of ground water, as is happening today, would
lead to subsidence and salt water intrusion, thereby damaging the
environment.

A report produced by PAM Jaya shows that as of December 2004,
only 3,041,999 residents, or 34 percent of the city's total
population of 8.7 million, have access to treated tap water,
leaving the majority reliant on ground water.