Indonesia embarks on water quality initiative

Fabio Scarpello, Contributor, Jakarta

Apart from water shortages caused by the prolonged annual drought, Jakartans are now facing another challenge: deteriorating water quality.

A senior representative of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Peter Hehanussa, said rapid population growth and the lack of a comprehensive pipeline network had disrupted the distribution of drinking water.

Unchecked population growth on Java and Bali spurs the demand for drinking water. Unfortunately, the available water is also deteriorating in quality as the pollution level rises.

Peter said only 50 percent of Jakartans had access to piped water, while the rest had to do with groundwater, drawn by electrical and manual pumps, but the water is poor.

"The quality of the surface water is so bad in and around Jakarta that we have stopped taking samples."

Data from the Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure shows that at least 80 percent of the 215 million- strong population have no access to piped water.

"Citizens and industries are still using rivers as garbage bins," he said, but noted that attitudes were changing and "the government is finally taking some long-term steps to tackle to problem".

However, "Water quality is deteriorating faster than changes are taking place..." He also regretted "the government's lack of power to keep citizens and industries in check, and to provide citizens with some basic utilities".

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Hydrology Unit, in collaboration with the Bandung Institute of Technology, carried out a pilot study of groundwater quality in December 2003, covering 253 open and closed wells in East Jakarta.

Further analyses of the samples from 25 wells showed unpleasant results: Chemical tests showed a high concentration of arsenic, among other harmful substances, while bacteriological tests showed a very high level of contamination by fecal matter.

However, Peter was optimistic there would be a long-term solution to the water shortage problem.

He cited government support for the establishment of LIPI's Asia Pacific Center for Ecohydrology (APCE) in Jakarta, under the auspices of UNESCO, as an initial effort to solve the water quality problem.

LIPI has underlined that "the center would be instrumental in conducting scientific research, professional training and creating an information network for ecohydrology and related activities in the Pacific area". The institute is awaiting UNESCO's final endorsement for the center.

Should all go as planned, the Jakarta APCE would be one of only three such centers in the world: two are in Poland and another in Argentina.

In addition, a few bilateral agreements have also been inked on the issue, like the 2004-2007 Indonesia-Italy Executive Programme of Scientific and Technological Cooperation.

The agreement, Peter said, "provides a framework for us to organize meetings such as the one we had on 'Ecohydrology: River Load and Eutrophication' on June 21 and 22, where we had the opportunity to share information."

The meeting was jointly organized by the Ministry of Research and Technology, the Italian Embassy in Jakarta and UNESCO.

The information-sharing session may be particularly useful considering that, according to documentation provided by the Italian National Research Council (CNR), Italy has experienced most of the fresh and coastal water problems Indonesia is facing.

One such parallel is the deterioration of Adriatic coastal waters during the 1970s and the current state of Jakarta Bay.

The Adriatic Sea's plight was one of the greatest environmental issues Italy had ever faced. Besides environmental damage, its impacts were felt by the local tourism-based economy, which collapsed virtually overnight.

Like the "red tide" that recently killed shellfish and fish in Jakarta Bay, the Adriatic's problem was caused by industrial and domestic waste dumped into rivers.

According to recent data gathered by the CNR-affiliated Water Research Institute, the Adriatic Sea is still being monitored but is now out of the danger zone. The cooperation established between the Italian government and local residents in dealing with the Adriatic problem, hopefully, may serve as an example for Indonesian authorities.

Romano Pagnotta, head of the CNR's water quality department, said he was impressed by their Indonesian counterparts. He remarked, "The existence of similar problems gives hope that the solutions applied in Italy could also work here."

Peter and Pagnotta both expressed their hopes that the roundtable could be the first step toward developing a close collaboration in solving the nation's water issues.