NINIS reports that Jakarta Environment Management Agency head Junaedi said that groundwater exploitation in Jakarta had caused subsidence, sinking the city by 9 centimeters per year. Junaedi told Tempo to stop using groundwater. The condition was predicted to be worsened as data from the agency revealed that the number of well drilling permits had been increasing over the last five years. In 2011, as much as 7.2 cubic meter of water had been exploited from 4,231 wells. The figure increased to 8.9 million cubic meter of water exploited from 4,473 wells in 2014. According to Junaedi, the city can turn water from rivers in the Capital into raw water by using a waste-water treatment technology. Moreover, the government could develop pipelines to distribute clean water to settlements, commercial areas, and industrial zones, so that people no longer use groundwater.
Data from city-owned water operator PD PDAM Jaya showed that clean water pipe networks had reached 12.5 million Jakarta residents. Therefore, 5 million people are still using groundwater for their daily needs. Bance Simarmata, (at Palyja) said that water at the Jakarta West Flood Canal had the potential to be processed into clean water. However, Bance explained that the water was polluted by household wastes and contained high level of ammonia. Therefore, Bance said that a water-treatment plant must be built at the canal. We need support in terms of permit and investment, Bance added. The Jakarta Water Management Agency had planned to build more dams as water containment areas to prevent rainwater from flowing into the sea. Firdaus Ali, water management observer from the University, said that Jakarta was sinking by 10-11 centimeters per year. By 2050, the land elevation at the National Monument (Monas) could be the same as the current sea level along the coast line if groundwater pumping continued, and that is not including the impact of the predicted sea-level rise resulting from climate change by then.
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
