Under the Hum of the Pumping Station

The city requires a grand design for the future of water. Pumping stations are indeed important, but they must operate alongside the protection of green spaces, river revitalisation, development control, and public education.

Surabaya (ANTARA) - Heavy rain always has its own way of testing the city. In Surabaya City, that test often comes through flooding that blocks roads, disrupts vehicle flow, and makes settlements feel as if they have stopped breathing.

However, behind the torrents of water falling from the sky and rushing across the city’s concrete surfaces, there is another sound that is rarely noticed: the hum of pumping station engines.

Pumping stations may not be grand structures. They are not as famous as city parks or new protocol roads. Their form is usually simple, sometimes hidden in corners of waterways or riverbanks.

But it is precisely in those places that one of a city’s most important battles takes place. When rain falls in a matter of hours with high intensity, pumping stations become the last line of defence to prevent Surabaya from being submerged by its own water.

Therefore, the Surabaya City Government’s step to add eight new pumping stations in 2026 is not just a routine infrastructure project. That policy shows a change in perspective towards flooding, namely no longer considering it a seasonal problem, but a serious consequence of modern urban growth.

For years, Surabaya has faced an urban paradox. The city grows quickly, settlements become denser, trade centres expand, but permeable spaces continue to shrink. Rainwater that once seeped into the ground now directly runs towards drainage channels. When the channel capacity is no longer sufficient, flooding becomes inevitable.

It is at that point that pumping stations play a crucial role. Those machines work to move water from low-lying areas to major rivers or the sea. That system allows Surabaya to have better resilience than many other coastal cities that also face flood and tidal surge threats.

However, pumping stations are not just about water-sucking machines. They are actually a symbol of how a city reads its future.