Surjadi asks for efficient water use for draught

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)