North coast of Java facing severe water deficit due to deforestation

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A severe water crisis is looming for big cities along the north coast of Java island, including Jakarta, Semarang in Central Java and Surabaya in East Java, due to the rapid rate of deforestation and excessive water consumption, State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim said on Monday.

Nabiel said the dry season droughts and wet season flooding that plagued many cities along the north coast only confirmed the bleak outlook for water supplies in northern Java.

He said that in one year, the northern coastal areas suffered water shortages for four months.

"Deforestation and excessive water consumption have worsened the water deficit. If deforestation is not stopped, and water consumption continues to increase, the water deficit will worsen in the coming years.

"Then, a water crisis will materialize," Nabiel told The Jakarta Post in his office.

Nabiel was commenting on a report in the Kompas daily on Monday that Jakarta would face a major water crisis in ten years time if the city administration maintained its poor water policy.

It said Jakarta would need 33 million cubic meters of water per second in ten years, up from 9 million cubic meters per second this year.

Nabiel noted that Jakarta would face acute water problems in the coming years, not only because of declining ground water reserves but also because of the increasing level of pollution.

The pollution comes not only from chemical substances discharged by factories in the city, but also from the soaring amount of human feces, which was certainly "contaminating underground water."

"With 12 million people in Jakarta now, the city produces around 3,000 tons of feces per day, or more than 1 million tons per year.

With the growing population here, the contamination will become even worse in the coming years, he said.

He suggested that the city administration start now on drawing up comprehensive plans to ensure sustainable water supplies for the city.

One of the plans should cover coordination with the Bogor administration, many of whose areas constitute water catchment areas for Jakarta.

In the plan, Nabiel said, Jakarta could cooperate with the Bogor administration in maintaining the water catchment areas, including keeping the forests and other green areas in Bogor intact.

Jakarta could provide financial help to maintain these green areas.

According to Nabiel, other big cities along the north coast must also work together with the neighboring administrations that supplied most of the ground water to the cities.

Besides, he said, local governments had to be stricter in enforcing regulations that banned both industrial plants and households from drilling wells to a depth that exceeded what was allowed by the regulations.

He said the central government could help local administrations to coordinate their efforts in maintaining sustainable water supplies.

"But the key is the local governments and local people who must be made aware that they must conserve nature to ensure sustainable water supplies," he said.