Water shortages, power blackouts to hit Java

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The current water shortage has escalated on Java island, including the capital city of Jakarta, threatening a disruption in power supplies in coming months, the government says.

"We have found that the drought in a number of areas on the island is pretty bad," State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim said here on Monday.

In Jakarta, water crises have already occurred in the Daan Mogot area of West Jakarta and North Jakarta, he said.

Separately, a top official from the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Roestam Syarief said that water supplies from Jatiluhur dam in West Java to Jakarta's state-owned tap water firm (PDAM) had declined to 60 percent of the normal amount.

The water level in Jatiluhur reservoir was 84.5 meters as of Aug. 5, down from the usual 94.19 meters.

The safe water level for Jatiluhur reservoir to be able to generate the 150 megawatts of hydropower that its power plant is capable of, and to supply tap water and irrigation water is between 75 and 107 meters, according to Roestam.

Besides, the water levels in Cirata and Saguling dams, and in several other dams in Central and East Java, had also been declining rapidly, he said.

Nabiel said that if Jatiluhur received no rain in the next two months, there would have to be alternating power blackouts.

"The water level of Jatiluhur reservoir has been declining by 20 centimeters per day, and the rate is getting faster. If this continues , Jakarta may experience power blackouts and water shortages," he said.

Meanwhile, Eddie Widiono, the president of state electricity company PT PLN said that the long drought might indeed cause power disruption in Java as a number of hydro power plants were experiencing low water volumes.

Eddie acknowledged that the current power reserves would not be enough to cover power demand in case of plant or equipment breakdown.

"So far, everything is safe but the long drought could jeopardize power supply," he said, adding that it could reduce power reserves to between 200 megawatts and 300 megawatts.

PLN needs minimum reserves of 600 megawatts to avoid power shortages.

The installed capacity of hydropower plants supplying the Java-Bali system amounts to 2,536 MW, or about 14 percent of the total installed capacity of 18,000 MW.

Additionally, a long drought would force PLN to use more fuel to fire its combined-cycle power plants, he said.

In West Java, drought has caused a serious water crisis and crop failures in Indramayu, Majalengka, Subang, Cirebon, and Bandung, Nabiel said.

In Indramayu, for example, there was a dispute between local farmers and town residents as farmers had rejected a plan to allow additional water to be supplied to the town residents, he said.

In the northwestern tip of West Java province -- Banten -- the most serious hit areas included Serang, Pandeglang, and Tangerang, he said.

In Central Java, Semarang was suffering from a groundwater crisis, as was Bandung. Other areas, including Grobogan, Rembang, Blora and Wonogiri, had also been experiencing water shortages, Nabiel said.

In East Java, drought had hit Mojokerto, Sidoarjo, Surabaya and Pasuruan, he said.

"Indeed, we are really suffering from lack of rainfall. This month, it is estimated that rainfall will reach only 24 millimeters, far below August last year's level of 55 millimeters," Nabiel said.

Rainfall in September will be the same as that in August, but down from 53 millimeters in September 2002, he said.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) earlier said that the drought this year, particularly south of the equator, would be severer than last year.

It said that there had been little rainfall over the last four months. Even if rain fell, it only lasted 10 minutes.

The agency attributed stronger winds this year from Australia for the severe drought.

Nabiel said the government would focus on tackling the crisis, including providing drinking water in subdistricts and encouraging people to save water.

Roestam said the government would try cloud seeding close to the rainy season to try to make the rain fall earlier. "But to date this has not been possible as there has not been enough cloud."