Water conservation and the government’s political will

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/03/22/water-conservation-and-government039s-political-will.html

Budi Wignyosukarto , Contributor , Yogyakarta | Sun, 03/22/2009 2:02 PM | Supplement

Not only is the world’s population increasing at a fast rate but so are water demands.

However, with water pollution intensifying over the past few years and less rainfall due to global climate changes, there is an imbalance between water supply and demand. This has caused a water crisis in many parts of the world.

It is estimated that by 2025, there will be a drastic shortage of water for the forecasted 3.5 billion global population, while some 2.5 billion people will lack basic sanitation.

Water should be treated as a valuable asset and used wisely, but reality shows a different picture. Water is wasted and polluted to a great extent. Almost half the world’s population suffers from various diseases caused by water shortages or pollution.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2.2 million die annually due to diarrhea mostly caused by bad water and food. Most of them are children in developing countries.

Water management in Indonesia faces complex problems because it has several functions, such as sociocultural, economic and environmental. The opening up of new land for farming, housing and industry, which is frequently not well coordinated, has caused land degradation, erosion, landslides and flooding.

Java, which has only 4.5 percent of domestic water potential, has to support the needs of 60 percent of the country’s population, almost 70 percent of Indonesia’s irrigation area and serve 70 percent of the entire country’s requirement for water. This has caused conflict among water users, both for households and farming as well as industrial needs, including the use of groundwater in the cities.

Currently, the farming sector needs almost 80 percent of the available water, leaving 20 percent for industry and households. It is estimated that by 2020, industry and households will require more water. Meanwhile, some rivers in Java have been extremely degraded and erosion has caused sedimentation at some of the reservoirs at Citarum, Brantas, Serayu-Bogowonto and Bengawan Solo rivers.

Sedimentation reduces the water capacity of the reservoirs and it is predicted that some of them will only be able to supply water up to 2010. Extracting excessive quantities of groundwater in some of Java’s major cities, such as Jakarta, Semarang and Surabaya has resulted in seawater intrusion and land subsidence.

With an insufficient sanitation system and poor waste management, ground- and river-water have become polluted due to household waste, especially in the dry season. Meanwhile, in the wet season, floods are widespread due to the lack of absorption areas, decreasing river capacity and damaged drainage systems.

Hence, conserving water has become a top priority. While there are several concepts for conserving water, such as absorption wells and biopore holes, the results have not been satisfactory. In fact, most efforts to conserve water seem to be merely ceremonial.

The problem is not only technical, but also involves social, economic and environmental aspects. In fact, a strong regulation is sorely needed to solve the problem. Many regulations do not result in conserving water. For example, Article 55 of Government Regulation No. 43/2008 on groundwater states that up to 100 cubic meters of groundwater per family per month can be used without a permit. This is a large amount considering that present water usage is only 100 liters per person per day, while in most developed countries it is 200 liters per person per day.

For a family of five, water requirements of five by 30 by 100 liters would equal 15,000 liters per month, or 15 cubic meters per month. The prevailing government regulation clearly allows excessive groundwater extraction, which causes environmental damage.

The government regulations should help to conserve water, particularly since it is a global concern. In the past few years, millions of hectares of forests have been converted into oil palm plantations. Palm oil production increased from five million tons in 1995 to 15 million tons in 2005.

The conversion of forested land has changed the physical characteristics of the land from water catchment areas that helped reduce flooding in the wet season into dry land. The increase in palm oil production is spurred by the desire to produce biofuel to replace fossil fuel, but the damage to the environment could prove more costly than any savings offered in fuel or energy.

Clean rivers seem to be a thing of the past, with the blame being put on household waste and government regulations being incapable of controlling business water use. There is not much coordination between government offices regulating permits for buildings and the office for water conservation, and therefore water absorption is also in a bad state.

Efforts in conserving water should be made a top priority because water shortages often occur nationwide. Almost 25 million families depend on farming, which requires 80 percent of the available water. At the same time, urban populations that keep growing also badly need plenty of water. Public water conservation has been well intended , but many failures have dampened the intention. Therefore, one of the most important aspects is political will to overcome the problem in line with the public’s good intentions.