Farmers assured of free water supply

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives and the government assured on Thursday that the bill on water resources would not deprive farmers of water for their farmland.

Erman Suparno, chairman of the House special committee deliberating the bill on water resources, said farmers would not pay for water used on their farmland.

"Water for farming and for noncommercial use will be free," he said at a seminar on sustainable water resources management.

Article 41 (1) of the bill on water resources, which is currently being deliberated by the House, stipulates that water for farmland managed by farmer associations would be given the right to use water without charge.

But Article 42 (2) states that the farming business, including plantations, fish farms, fishery firms and animal husbandry outfits must pay water charges.

This has created anxiety among the country's farmers, who fear that they would have to pay for the water they use for farming purposes.

Erman said that farmers would be supplied with enough water free of charge.

To avoid charges for water used for farming, the operators of river management must be put under the auspices of state-owned companies, which would subsidize farmers, Erman said.

Director of Water Resources Utilization Adi Sarwoko Soeronegoro concurred with Erman, saying that farmers would only have to maintain the irrigation infrastructure under an association and spend money on infrastructure maintenance.

According to data from state-owned river management company Jasa Tirta I, which manages the operation of Brantas River in East Java, at present, 70 percent to 80 percent of water usage was for irrigating farmland without charge.

The remainder goes to tap water companies, electricity plants and other consumers.

But the government imposes higher taxes on farmers using water from the irrigation infrastructure than the taxes paid by those who do not use the irrigation system, the data says.

Analysts fear that if farmers are obliged to pay for water used on their farmland, their operational costs would rise and in the end the price of crops would increase.

Erman, however, urged the government to privatize inefficient provincial tap water companies (PDAM) across the country as part of efforts to distribute tap water to more people.

"This will help more people get tap water without paying an expensive price," he said.

Meanwhile, Adi said Indonesia was threatened by a water crisis due to a number of factors, including the increasing population and its unbalanced distribution, illegal logging, land conversion of water catchment areas, uncontrolled pumping of groundwater and water pollution.

"So it would be no surprise if in 2025 our country suffers a water crisis," he said.

Indonesia's water availability stands at 15,500 cubic meters per capita per year, far higher than the world's average water availability of 600 cubic meters per capita per year.

Unfortunately, the abundant water resource is not distributed equally across the country.