Surjadi asks for efficient water use for draught

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soerdirdja called on Jakartans to use water efficiently due to the ongoing drought which has dug deep into the city's water reserves.

"I urge households not to use too much detergent when doing washing and dump waste water directly to the rivers in order not to pollute the water supply. Industries should also install water treatment plants," Surjadi said on Tuesday.

The governor was referring to recent newspaper reports that thousands of Jakartans did not receive piped water from the city- owned water company, PAM Jaya, because of shortages.

Reports also said that thousands of Jakartans, who rely on groundwater, have to wait until late at night, sometimes till early morning, for water to accumulate because their deep wells have dried out.

PAM Jaya, Surjadi said, had done its best to meet the demand of residents for water.

"They installed longer pipes and distributed more water. But it could not match the city's high population growth," he said, describing the effort as a drop of water in a frying pan.

The Ministry of Agriculture estimated that 1994 would be one of the most serious drought-stricken years of the last decade.

On urbanization, Surjadi said that high population growth in the city creates not only water shortages but also an undersupply of transportation, housing, garbage, electricity and telephone lines.

But he said that urbanization problems plaguing big cities like Jakarta should be taken as a conditio sine qua non.

"What we can do is reduce the impact of the urbanization as small as possible because we cannot ban people from coming to the city," he said.

"I believe the city administration can do this with the help of its residents," he stressed. (09)