Jakarta Governor to Issue Warnings to Offices Using Groundwater

Jakarta — Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung has called on office buildings in the capital to switch from groundwater to piped water services provided by state-owned PT PAM Jaya, operated by the Jakarta Provincial Government.

Pramono emphasised that his administration will issue warnings to offices still using groundwater. “I have decided that for all offices in Jakarta, those using groundwater will receive a warning, and we will ask them to immediately switch to PAM water,” Pramono stated when met in the Thousand Islands, Jakarta, on Friday, 13 March 2026.

The regional government will push for the regulation to be properly implemented by all office buildings. “And this regulation already exists,” Pramono added.

Earlier, PT PAM Jaya Chief Executive Arief Nasrudin highlighted that some office buildings continue to use groundwater citing cost efficiency reasons. However, excessive groundwater extraction can accelerate land subsidence in Jakarta.

Arief expressed concern that one government office had even recommended using groundwater to save costs compared to paying for PAM Jaya’s piped water service. “I am rather dismayed that a government office, which I need not name—it is not the Jakarta Provincial Government—tweets that it wants to be cost-efficient by not using PAM but using groundwater instead,” Arief said during a media discussion at Jakarta City Hall Press Room on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.

“They forget how much electricity their pump costs,” Arief continued.

Arief explained that land subsidence has already begun occurring in several areas, particularly in Jakarta’s coastal regions. Continuous groundwater extraction poses serious environmental consequences beyond rising operational costs.

PT PAM Jaya is therefore pushing for an expansion of the groundwater-free zone policy, particularly in areas already served by the piped water network.