Groundwater abundant but remains unexploited in Gunungkidul

Groundwater abundant but remains unexploited in Gunungkidul

Gunungkidul, which cries for water every year, is rich in water
but it is yet to be exploited properly. And the lack of funds is
the mother of all problems.

The truth is that Gunungkidul boasts many underground rivers
that run all year long, sufficient to satisfy its citizens' needs
for water.

Gunungkidul's tap water company (PDAM) has been exploiting
four of the rivers, but not optimally.

PDAM director Tjiptomulyono said that an underground river in
the southern coastal district of Baron, for example, has a
capacity of 1,150 liters per second, but the company's system can
only pump out 15 liters per second from it.

"The generator's capacity to pump out water is very limited.
It can work for only 10 hours a day at the most. If we force it
to operate at full capacity, it will soon break down," said
Tjiptomulyono.

The condition of the other three installations was the same,
Tjiptomulyono acknowledged.

The four are unable to produce more than 100 liters of water
per second in total, although each underground stream has a
capacity of more than 1,000 liters per second.

The water from the underground streams in the south are for
local villagers. To serve people in and around the capital of
Wonosari, PDAM runs three artesian wells and a spring, which has
a capacity of less than 100 liters per second.

Running some 100 meters below the surface, according to
Tjiptomulyono, the underground streams can be pumped into a
reservoir with a powerful generator. From the reservoir, the
water can then be distributed to households through the PDAM
pipelines.

"It will need a powerful machine to pump water to higher
places, which is where most of our potential customers' homes are
located," Tjiptomulyono said.

The fact that the generator can operate no longer than 10
hours a day makes it even more difficult for the company to do
its job. This also explains why, of the 700 kilometers of
pipeline built three years ago in the regency, only 60 percent
can actually be used.

Tjiptomulyono said that even with such a minimum performance,
the operational cost was high. Each generator requires 65 liters
of diesel fuel for each hour of operation. The four generators in
the four sub-systems of Baron, Ngobaran, Seropan and
Bribin, therefore, need 78,000 liters of diesel fuel a month if
they all operate 10 hours a day.

In addition to the money used to finance the operation, PDAM
requires another Rp 96 million a month to pay 156 employees,
aside from funds for maintenance.

Overhead cost is another expenditure that PDAM must take into
account.

"All these costs prevent us from optimally exploiting the
underground streams. The irony (of the fact that Gunungkidul has
so many underground rivers, yet the people are short of water) is
even more glaring in times of crisis like now," he said.

A possible solution seemed to arise very recently when the
local administration learned that, in cooperation with a German
university, the State Ministry of Research and Technology had
plans for a micro-hydro project to exploit the untapped water
sources.

"Once it is realized, I believe the water problem will
eventually be overcome. Besides, if the turbine-powered facility
can operate 24 hours a day, we would be able to save Rp 40
million a month in diesel costs."

Gunungkidul Vice Regent Subechi said if the project
materialized, water shortages in the regency would be no more in
2005.

"That's assuming that everything runs as planned," he said.

Although it may be a little too early for the people of
Gunungkidul to expect water to come in abundance, news of the
cooperation is indeed a ray of hope. -- Sri Wahyuni