Power shortages 'likely' to hit Java and Bali soon
Dewi Santoso, Jakarta
Java and Bali are likely to face power shortages within the next five to 10 years due to the decreasing water volume of Citarum River in West Java, a government official says.
Citarum River supplies three hydroelectric dams -- Saguling, Cirata and Jatiluhur, all in West Java. Approximately 70 percent of residents of Java island depend on the Jatiluhur dam for their power.
The chairman of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Umar Anggara Jenie, described on Monday the condition of the Citarum River as alarming. He said its upstream area, Gunung Wayang, was deforested, its water catchment areas were broken and three-fourths of the river was suffering from low water levels, leaving only one-fourth with sufficient water volume.
"If we do not take action to clean the area soon, Java and Bali will suffer power blackouts," said Umar during a two-day seminar titled Indonesia-Italy Roundtable on Ecohydrology: River Load and Eutrophication.
The installed capacity of hydroelectric plants supplying the Java-Bali grid amounts to 2,536 megawatts (MW), or about 14 percent of the total installed capacity of 18,000 MW.
Umar said that with the water volume of Citarum River decreasing, the dams would be able to generate less power, resulting in a decrease in power supplies.
In August 2003, the hydroelectric plants at Saguling and Cirata were only able to generate half of their normal capacity of 700 MW and 1,000 MW respectively, because the water levels in their reservoirs were dangerously low, nearly 70 percent below normal.
In addition, the Jatiluhur hydroelectric plant was only able to produce 60 MW, far below its normal level of 190 MW, because the water level of the Jatiluhur reservoir was 84.5 meters, down from the usual 94.19 meters.
As a result, the three plants had to be shut down for most of the day over the course of the month, operating only between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
State Minister for Research and Technology M. Hatta Rajasa agreed with Umar, saying water was a major issue that needed to be immediately addressed by both the government and the people.
He said that currently the water availability for people in Java and Bali was about 5,000 cubic meters per person, per year. It is expected that in the next few years, water availability will fall to 2,000 cubic meters per person, per year.
"Thus, to tackle the issue, Pak Umar will go to Citarum River soon to conduct a project that was earlier implemented in Brantas River in East Java," Hatta said.
Named the Water Quality Management Project, the Brantas River project was implemented in 1999 by LIPI, with the help of the Austrian government.
The project included installing stations every 10 kilometers along the 350-kilometer-long river to monitor the water's pH, pollutant and ammonia levels. The project also treated wastewater and recycled industrial waste.
Umar said the project at Citarum River was expected to begin next year and would last for five years, and would be partly financed by the Austrian government.
He said funding from the Austrians was expected to be between 25 million and 35 million euro (US$30.26 million to $42.37 million).