Govt fails to control groundwater exploitation

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has failed to control groundwater exploitation by high-rise buildings in the capital, which has contributed to a lowering of the water table and worsened environmental conditions, according to an urban affairs observer.

"The government must impose stricter conditions on the use of groundwater by high-rise building owners before issuing new construction permits," said Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto of the environmental division of the Jakarta chapter of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta).

Tubagus blamed the city administration's weak control on the massive use of groundwater by multistory building managements, which used high pressure pumps to draw the water from the ground. "This has caused a lowering of the water table and resulted in other environmental damage, including seawater penetration of the water table."

"The depletion of groundwater has caused the arid subsoil to absorb seawater to fill the subterranean voids," Tubagus said, reiterating that seawater intrusion had reached some parts of Central Jakarta.

Seawater intrusion, Tubagus said, both reduced the quality of groundwater and obstructed people's access to fresh water.

"Legally, residents living around multistory buildings could lodge a complaint if they could not find fresh groundwater due to a drastic reduction in water supplies caused by overexploitation," Tubagus said. "The government must ensure that everyone has access to safe and fresh water."

According to City Bylaw No. 2, 1994, the use of groundwater for commercial purposes, as for office buildings, must obtain official permission from the governor. The permit, valid for three years, could be extended as long as water exploitation did not threaten the sustainability of the groundwater or endanger the environment.

However, Tubagus complained about the lenient penalties for those found guilty of violating the bylaw.

"Any violators (against the bylaw) are subject to six months in jail or a Rp 5 million maximum fine, a meager amount for the wealthy management of high-rise buildings," Tubagus grumbled.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Ali, chief of the hydrology subdirectorate at the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure revealed on Saturday that high-rise buildings might cause damage to the environment, including land subsidence.

"Subterranean voids resulting from overexploitation, coupled with the weight of multistory buildings, contribute much to land subsidence," said Ali.

In an area like the central business district, encompassing Jakarta's main thoroughfares of Jl. Jendral Sudirman, Jl. Gatot Subroto and Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, for example, there stand 123 multistory buildings.

Ali said that some roads and buildings in Jakarta had suffered cracks due to land subsidence, citing some areas in Kapuk Naga, in West Jakarta as an example.

However, Ali revealed that such overexploitation of groundwater would likely remain high, given that around 70 percent of water requirements were met by groundwater, while only 30 percent was from river water.

Ali also revealed that many people were unable to obtain access to safe and healthy water due to space limitations in residential areas.

"People can no longer dig a well a safe distance away from their neighbors' septic tank, which means the water they draw can be badly contaminated," Ali said.

Recent research by the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB) found that 90 percent of Jakarta well water was contaminated by E-coli bacteria, found in human waste.

"Ideally, a well should be sunk at least 10 meters away from a septic tank. But in many cases here, wells are located less than two meters or three meters away."