Water Crisis: Gili Meno Residents Spend Up to Rp3 Million Monthly on Bottled Water
Residents of Gili Meno Hamlet, Gili Indah Village, Pemenang District, North Lombok, NTB, have been plagued by a clean water crisis for three years. They are forced to spend millions of rupiah each month on refillable gallon water. “In one month, the average resident in Gili Meno spends Rp2 million to Rp3 million just to buy bottled water,” said Gili Meno Hamlet Head Masrun during a meeting at the NTB Walhi office on Friday (19/6/2026). “That’s for cooking and other needs,” he added.
Gili Meno is one of NTB’s premier tourism areas. The region has been hit by a clean water crisis since 2023 due to a legal dispute involving the local water supply company. Masrun said an average family uses four to six gallons of water daily. According to him, the water aid supplied daily by the North Lombok Regency Government is insufficient to meet the community’s needs.
He stated that the clean water crisis has harmed various sectors. Masrun cited the livestock sector, where many residents’ cows have died from lack of water. Similarly, several hotel and restaurant entrepreneurs in Gili Meno have been forced to close down because they could not get water. “Businesses that survive must pay water costs up to six times more expensive for operations than before the water crisis,” Masrun added.
Masrun urged the North Lombok Regency Government and the NTB Provincial Government to immediately provide a solution. He requested the government install an underwater pipeline to channel water from Lombok Island, rather than using a Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) system, which is considered environmentally unfriendly. It is known that Gili Meno residents actually installed an underwater pipeline independently in 2021. However, Masrun said the installation of the underwater pipeline was rejected by the North Lombok Regency Government. “The length of the pipe from Lombok Island to Gili Air is 1.6 kilometres, while from Gili Air to Meno is 1.2 kilometres. That is far cheaper than using a water shuttle system,” said Masrun.
Walhi NTB, together with Gili Meno residents, has officially filed a complaint against the North Lombok Regency Government to the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri). Walhi considers the clean water dispute in Gili Meno not merely a technical issue, but a form of neglect of citizens’ basic rights by the state. “So far, Gili Meno residents have experienced a prolonged clean water crisis. Meanwhile, the solutions that were once offered actually presented new problems that threaten environmental sustainability,” said Walhi NTB Director Amri Nuryadin during a press conference in Mataram on Friday.
Amri noted that 267 families, or around 1,000 people, in Gili Meno are affected by the clean water crisis. He then referred to Law Number 17 of 2019 on Water Resources, which emphasises that meeting water needs is the government’s responsibility. “Water is a human right. The state must not completely hand over the fulfilment of the people’s basic needs to business mechanisms that could potentially ignore ecological aspects,” Amri said.
Head of Walhi NTB’s Advocacy Division, Alfi Zakki, added that the North Lombok Regency Government has failed to carry out the mandate of Article 28H of the 1945 Constitution and Law Number 17 of 2019. Walhi is pushing the government to accelerate the construction of an underwater water distribution pipeline network from the Lombok mainland to Gili Meno. “When the community experiences a water crisis for a long period, a total evaluation of the local government administration is necessary,” said Alfi.
According to Alfi, the complaint submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs marks a new chapter in the struggle of Gili Meno residents to obtain clean water. Since 2024, residents and Walhi NTB have filed complaints about this issue with the Ombudsman, the North Lombok DPRD, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). However, to date, Gili Meno residents still face difficulties accessing clean water. There are several points in the residents’ demands submitted to Kemendagri, including urging the ministry to evaluate the North Lombok Regency Government for its failure to fulfil basic services for residents. Additionally, they are urging the government to accelerate the distribution of clean water from the Lombok mainland and to make the right to water a primary programme in the Gili tourism area. “We also want to ensure that natural resource management favours environmental sustainability and the livelihood of the many people there,” said Alfi.