Today is Blog Action Day 2010 and the topic you'll read about on hundreds of blogs worldwide is water.
Why?
Very simply because clean water is essential for our survival, but dangerously scarce. Nearly one billion people in the world today don't have access to clean water and 42,000 people (including about 31,500 children) die each week from water-borne diseases. And the issue doesn't stop there – water availability impacts a wide variety of issues from the environment to women's rights and from technology to fashion.
Although Indonesia is a predominantly a maritime nation, inland its citizens regularly suffer from flooding and droughts, thanks in a big part to deforestation and rapid urbanisation.
Water supply in Jakarta
Barely 12% of the city's population has access to treated and supposedly potable water.
In 2001, the Jakarta Water Supply Regulation Body (JWSRB) was established with members directly appointed by the Governor for a term of office of 3 years "selected through an open and accountable selection process". Through a 'Governor Regulation' it is supposed to "ensure a reasonable balance between the interest of consumer and water services providers in DKI Jakarta Province."
Three companies, PAM Jaya, PAM Lyonnaise Jaya and PT Aetra, are responsible for meeting the city's needs, but you can't really blame them for not succeeding in their mandated task, even though it's a human rights issue; as much as words dribble from the mouths of experts in the form of discussions and academic documents, the infrastructure is sadly lacking.
And where it exists, it isn't maintained because the bureaucrats only budget to patch up botched jobs.
A statement issued by Winarno, the director of PT Bina Marga Area II overseeing road construction, that the collapse of Jl. R.E. Martadinata connecting Tanjung Priok and Ancol, North Jakarta, was caused by land subsidence resulting from recent dredging of the canal running parallel to the road, confirms that the construction of the newly completed road and dredging activities in the area failed to satisfy standards of prudence, accuracy and thoroughness.
I've written at length many times over the years about Jakarta's water supply so I need not bore you with the reasons why even here in Jakartass Towers we have a bore hole and jet pump to meet our daily water needs.
The following are some relevant links: my posts are in purple and the others are news items, mainly from the last month.
Where Jakarta's water comes from
Note: Recent geological 'evidence' suggests that Jakarta's water does not emanate from Bogor, as outlined in my post above, but from Depok, a township some 40 kilometres closer to the city centre.
In 2006, the then State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar expressed concern over a report showing that Jakartans living in slums have to allocate a larger portion of their income for clean water than people in high-income areas in the capital.
He said that uncontrolled development in Jakarta and its upstream areas were the main cause of poor supply and quality of water forcing residents to spend more on clean water.
Jakarta has long experienced a water crisis since it has no control over supply of raw water which comes mostly from its upstream areas in Bogor, Depok, Bekasi and Tangerang.
Jakarta’s tap water supply is 4,000 liters per second, which is less than the demand in 2010 based on an assumed population growth of 0.3 percent per year. The Jakarta Statistics Agency recently announced that the population of the city was growing on average at a rate of 1.3 percent per year.
The city's water companies supply water to only half (actually less) of Jakarta residents, while millions of others still rely on groundwater. However, due to the poor quality of water, residents use it only for bathing or washing clothes. They have to buy water sold in jerry cans for cooking or drinking.
Jakarta is sinking
Water crisis looms as groundwater dries up
Commercial buildings 'likely rely on groundwater'
Firdaus Ali, a board member of the Jakarta Water Supply Regulatory Body, said it would be difficult for a commercial building to rely entirely on tap water.
“Thirteen rivers passing through Jakarta are heavily polluted… and could not supply enough clean water for the growing population and development in the city.”
Firdaus said that almost all commercial buildings used groundwater not only because they lacked required resources for the city supply but because the city’s tap water piping system was inadequate.
A recent study found that since 2002 Muara Baru in North Jakarta has sunk 116 centimeters, West Cengkareng in West Jakarta has sunk 65 centimeters, Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta 47 centimeters and the Thamrin area in Central Jakarta 15 centimeters.
Herry Andreas, the researcher from the Bandung Institute of Technology who conducted the study, said excessive use of groundwater was behind 17.5 percent of land subsidence cases.
Floods
Danger of dams collapsing
40% of Jakarta below sea level
Jakarta's disappearing coastline
Flood waters choke underpasses
Jakarta is doomed
Jakartass BBC Interview re 2007 floods (available as ringtone!)
Weather
Heavy rain causes Jakarta jam
Freak weather in Jakarta
Strange Weather
All over the world
Strangers talk only about the weather
All over the world it's the same
It's the same
It's the same
by Tom Waits for Marianne Faithfull album
All over the world
Angkor Wat
Fatal floods hit Vietnam (video)
Vicious rains kill hundreds in Asia
Rivers
Human impact on world's rivers 'threatens water security of 5 billion'
UK's Environment Agency admitted that only five of 6,114 rivers in England and Wales were considered pristine last year.
Toxic spill reaches branch of Danube (video)
What we can do
Firstly, all those of us who can need to change our lifestyles.
- Create gardens rather than carports
- Reduce the capacity of toilet cisterns.
- Replace leaking taps and pipes immediately.
- Use buckets rather than hose pipes to wash vehicles.
- Dig biopores to capture rainwater, thus replenishing the water table.
Please add further suggestions in the comments
Finally, join millions worldwide in helping to build a movement of people across the world calling on UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon to accelerate the UN's work to supply clean, safe drinking water to the world's poorest populations.
Start by signing this petition.
The Last Five Comments