Scarcity of clean water blight urban areas

Scarcity of clean water blight urban areas

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Water scarcity poses huge problems for the residents of large
cities like Jakarta, and impoverished meatball vendor Kusno is no
exception.

The lack of clean water in the slum surrounding his run-down
shanty in the Jembatan Besi area of West Jakarta forces 40-year-
old Kusno to fork out at least Rp 48,000, or approximately US$5
per month, on clean water.

For the meatball vendor, whose monthly income only amounts to
a few hundred thousand rupiah, that's a considerable sum.

"Actually, I've set up a water pump but I can't use the well
water for cooking or drinking as it's too salty and smelly," said
Kusno, who shares the shanty with the six members of his family.

Everyday, Kusno has to buy a few gallons of drinking water
from his neighbor, a subscriber to the city water utility PDAM.

Like the members of many other poor urban communities in
Jakarta, Kusno is a squatter. This is the main reason why he and
other poor families in the area will never be able to obtain a
water supply from PDAM.

Under prevailing regulations, squatters are not allowed to
register with or be connected by PDAM on the grounds that they
are not permanent residents.

PDAM is afraid that if the squatters were evicted by the
authorities, the company would suffer significant financial
losses as well as damage to its supply infrastructure.

There are probably millions of people living in urban areas
who have the same problem as Kusno.

Rapid population growth has transformed most urban areas into
densely populated warrens with limited access at best to clean
water and other necessary facilities. To make matters worse, what
water there is available is heavily polluted.

Overexploitation of ground water by industry and offices has
reduced the amount of clean water while at the same time
increasing seawater intrusion into ground water sources.

Deforestation and urban sprawl in some places, including
Jakarta and Semarang in Central Java, has drastically reduced the
size of water catchment areas. Once green areas in both cities
have been developed into luxury real estate complexes or to make
way for other development projects. The decreasing size of water
catchment areas will certainly cause serious ecological problems,
including flooding during the rainy season and prolonged dry
seasons.

Excessive and poorly planned development projects have led to
vast numbers of urban residents facing serious problems
associated with a lack, or overabundance, of water. These
problems include flooding. One clear example of this is Jakarta.
The number of flood-prone spots in Jakarta has increased sharply
from only 61 in l992 to around 152 in 2002.

Limited access to the water distribution network is another
critical problem. PDAM Jakarta is capable of supplying water to
only 40 percent of Jakarta's 12 million residents.

According to a researcher from the Bogor Agricultural
Institute (IPB), the E-coli bacteria found in human feces are
estimated to contaminate 90 percent of all well water in Jakarta.

Other big cities like Bandung in West Java and Surabaya in
East Java face similar problems. In Bandung, for instance, fresh
water resources have decreased significantly due to a lowering of
the water table. This means that less ground water is available
for use by the city's residents.

Efforts to deal with the water crisis have already been
undertaken by the government, in this case the Office of the
State Minister for the Environment.

Dodo Sambodo, an official at the ministry, said the efforts
included reforestation projects in water catchment areas.

In cooperation with the National Land Agency, the government
has strictly banned the construction of holiday homes and villas
in headwater areas. Building factories along riverbanks is also
now prohibited to prevent pollution.

"Our main target is to rehabilitate the catchment areas so as
to increase water flow in the ground which will in turn increase
fresh water resources in urban areas," explained Dodo.

He added that reforestation programs were also important for
retaining water in catchment areas in order to prevent flooding.

His Office was currently negotiating with factory owners to
encourage them to relocate their plants away from riverbanks.

The vast majority of factories in East Java province are
located along riverbanks, creating major dangers for the
environment. The factories usually dump their industrial waste
directly into the rivers.

"Hopefully, we will be able to reach an agreement with them by
next year," said Dodo.

The government alone, however, cannot solve all of the
problems associated with water as these are the responsibility of
all stakeholders, including the industrial sector and the public.

Former State Minister for the Environment Sonny Keraf
suggested that all involved parties including the relevant
government agencies, industry, non-governmental organizations and
the community discuss and seek solutions to the problem.

"Environmental awareness in the community should be heightened
to deal with these matters. The government can't walk alone,"
said Sonny.

Regarding reforestation, Sonny also urged the government not
to regard forests as the country's main source of foreign
exchange earnings.

Forest conservation must be made a primary program as well in
a bid to achieve sustainable development, said Sonny.

Regarding water pollution, Sonny said that severe sanctions
should be imposed on polluters, especially those from the
industrial sector.