Seven regencies face water shortages as springs dry

Seven regencies face water shortages as springs dry

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java

Seven regencies in West Java are facing water shortages due to
severe environmental damage around Mount Ciremai and the dry
season.

Kuningan Regency development planning agency head Imam
Suwangka said there were at least 430 springs around Mount
Ciremai in 1998, but springs now only numbered 156.

"During the five-year period, the number of water sources on
Mount Ciremai decreased by 274 ... because the forest on the
mountain has been seriously damaged," he said Tuesday.

Imam said the lack of water sources had significantly affected
water supplies in Kuningan and the neighboring regencies of
Cirebon, Indramayu and Majalengka.

Water supplies to the regencies of Brebes and Tegal, which
usually used water from the mountain to irrigate farmland, were
also affected, he said.

Correspondingly, there has been a sharp reduction in water
levels at the Darma Dam, Kuningan.

The city's largest reservoir normally holds up to 30 million
cubic meters of water but current levels were less than 20
million cubic meters of water.

University of Kuningan forestry researcher Slamet Wastra
blamed the situation on environmental damage.

The damage covered more than 20 percent of the total 8,975
hectares of forest, mostly in Kuningan, he said.

Slamet said the damage was largely caused by illegal logging,
excavation, land clearance and natural factors, including the dry
season.

"The case should get serious attention from relevant
authorities because not only is the forest a important income
source for local villagers, but it also supplies clean water to
the regencies nearby."

Imam said that in order to stop the destruction, the Kuningan
administration had issued a new bylaw banning the clearance of
land and excavation on the mountain.

"The bylaw also reaffirms the change of the forest's economic
function from production forest to protected forest. We will soon
meet the forestry minister to push for stronger regulations in
order to save Ciremai Forest from further destruction."

Imam said the local administration had been campaigning for a
reforestation program involving government agencies, students,
non-governmental organizations and locals.