Water crisis looms over Indonesia

Debbie A. Lubis, Contributor, Jakarta

This special report is published to commemorate World Water Day which is observed worldwide on April 22. This year's celebration also marks the beginning of the second International Decade for Action -- Water for Life.

People in a fishing village on the coastal area of Marunda in Jakarta are forced to buy water for drinking and other daily needs, while residents of East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara need to travel for two hours just to get water.

These conditions are a glimpse of the scarcity of water that the country will face in the year 2015. Formidable population growth and economic development in Indonesia has caused alterations in catchment areas, making the country prone to water shortages. In addition, water pollution and sedimentation also worsen water quality.

According to Hoetomo, deputy of the State Minister of Environment, reservoir areas that are used to retain and absorb rainwater have been mostly transformed into residential, industrial and agricultural areas.

"This explains why many parts of our country suffer floods during the rainy season and water shortages in the dry season." Lack of catchment areas increases rainwater runoff and decreases water infiltration into the ground.

According to the Ministry of Forestry, critical non-forest land has reached 15.11 million hectares while critical land inside the forest is 8.14 million hectares.

Such damage to water reservoir areas has caused a huge gap between the availability and need for water.

Sudariyono, deputy minister for environmental conservation at the Ministry of Environment said that northern coastal cities in Java and some parts of Bali were currently experiencing a water crisis.

"In 1995 Java and Bali islands suffered a water deficit. I predict that by 2015 water deficit will also occur in other islands, such as Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara," he said.

The limited availability of surface water has forced many industries in big cities across the country to use groundwater (over 100 meters deep). However, the intensive use of groundwater has brought negative impacts, such as the increase of the depth at which groundwater is found, land subsidence and intrusion of seawater into the mainland.

"The signs of ground surface decline and seawater intrusion are already visible in Greater Jakarta, Semarang, and Surabaya. I believe that this will continue to increase and may also happen in other industrial cities," said Sudariyono. This condition can also cause water to become saline, and to be contaminated by Escherechia coli, bacteria found in fecal matter.

To overcome the water crisis, the government has issued some policies, especially those related with water management and sustainability of water resources. The Ministry of Environment has issued policies regarding production, distribution and efficient consumption of water.

"After analyzing the current condition, the needs of water as well as other variables that affect supply and demand, we conclude that water should no longer regarded as merely a commodity to be taken for granted because nature will always provide. It is the stock of natural resources that should be well managed," Hoetomo said.

Based on the Indonesian Summit on Sustainable Development in 2004, the ministry has also developed a National Agreement and Plan of Action on Sustainable Development, along with feasibility of implementation programs and success indicators that could help monitoring the program progress.

"But this is not a legally binding document. Still, there should be solid coordination among water-related institutions so that any programs can be feasible and the targets can be achieved," Hoetomo emphasized.

He underlined that sectoral ego is hampering efforts in providing greater access to water for the community. The Office of the State Minister for the Environment has also conducted some conservation campaigns, environmental education programs at formal and non-formal educational institutions as well as raising public awareness over the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle through its website, posters and other media. One of its success project is in Nusa Dua hotel complex in which they reuse the water from the hotel to water the plants and for other uses.

Meanwhile, the government has also developed a program called Water Supply and Sanitation Policy Formulation and Action Planning (WASPOLA) in corporation with AusAID and the World Bank. With the partnership among the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure, the program has produced the National Policy for Development of Community-Based Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation.

"Low quality water can cause 23 diseases. It can also reduce people's productivity. If you conduct a research among workers, you can check how many days they are absent in one month due to water-borne diseases," said Basah Hernowo, Director of Human Settlement and Housing at Bappenas.

Basah's team has also implemented a project called Water and Sanitation for Low Income Communities (WSLIC) since 1993 that has reached thousands of villages in the provinces of West Sumatra, South Sumatra, Bangka Belitung, West Java, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, and South Sulawesi. They were selected because of frequency of diarrheal diseases, poverty level, and water supply and sanitation service coverage.

"The community knows its problem. What we have to do is just visit them and talk to them. They are able to solve their problems if we guide them using simple language. We don't need to hold seminars or read them thick manuals."