Jakartans face serious water crisis
Jakartans face serious water crisis
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Suparman, 45, a resident of Utan Kayu, East Jakarta, wonders
why the water pump at his house has not been able to produce
enough water for his five-member family for the past month.
From 10 a.m. until late in afternoon, the pump, which can draw
water from a depth of nine meters, does not work.
"I want to buy a water pump that can reach a depth of 15
meters as the one in my house is no longer able to cater for our
daily needs," Suparman told the Jakarta Post at the Kenari Mas
market in Central Jakarta on Thursday.
Suparman is not the only person suffering from a water
shortage. Similar complaints came from Indra Jaya from
Cengkareng, West Jakarta, Hartono from Srengseng, West Jakarta,
and Mulia Husen from Bogor, who are all looking for a more
powerful water pump at the market.
A number of shopkeepers confirmed the increasing demand.
"There is a strong demand for jet pumps. In the previous
months we sold only around one per day, but since early this
month, we sell five per day on average. Only two days ago, I sold
10," said Gus from the shop Dunia Pompa.
Jakarta and its surrounding areas are suffering from water
scarcity due to uncontrolled developments which ignore the
environmental impacts. The green areas are dwindling as a great
part of it has been converted into businesses or residential
properties.
Rully Besari Budiyanti of Trisakti University's Landscape and
Environment Institute, said the water crisis was a natural
consequence of unsustainable development in the city.
Due to the continuous loss of the green areas, which also
function as water catchment area, during the rainy season, the
water flew directly to the sea, she said.
Rully said leaders in the city administration, including
Governor Sutiyoso, were seemingly unaware of the importance of
maintaining open areas in the city, which can function as water
catchments during the rainy season.
According to Rully, the amount of open area in the city is
continuously reducing, as indicated in the thrice-revised city
master plan.
In the 1965 to 1985 plan, the proportion of undeveloped land
was still 40 percent of the total. In the 1985 to 2005 master
plan, it had dropped to 20 percent, while in the 2010 document,
it was only 13.94 percent.
"At present, it is just under 10 percent," she stressed.
She said an undeveloped area that amounted to less than 10
percent of the total land area of the city was far from
sufficient as the ideal was around 30 percent of the total.
Meanwhile, Anung Karyadi, a coordinator of the Indonesian
Water Advocacy Network, said the lack of water catchments in the
city had disrupted the natural groundwater cycle as most land
could not absorb water during the rainy season.
As a result, Jakarta was experiencing a water crisis, said
Anung, who is also deputy chairman of the Indonesian Forum for
the Environment (Walhi).
He underlined two factors that caused water scarcity in the
city: First, the continuing loss of green areas and catchments in
the city to concrete; second, overexploitation of groundwater,
both by businesses and households.
"As a result of these two factors, the water table has
continuously fallen and there is no other way to cope than to
economize in the use of water," he said.
"Save water; instead of washing your car every day, do it once
every two days or less frequently," he said.