Indonesia embarks on water quality initiative

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.