Water crisis looms over Indonesia

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."