RESERVOIRS STILL TO BE TAPPED TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Oct 4 (Antara) - Indonesians, like most other people in the world, love to go out for a picnic to unwind at tourism resorts or at other destinations such as lakes after a long and hectic week of working.          Lake Toba in North Sumatra is a famous natural tourism destination in the country, apart from the Saguling, Cirata and Jatiluhur reservoirs in West Java. Lakes and reservoirs, if cultivated optimally, have numerous economic benefits, including in the tourism sector.          Indonesia has over 800 reservoirs which can potentially be developed as tourist destinations for holidaymakers and picnic lovers.         Unfortunately, some reservoirs in the country are in a critical condition while others are also undergoing degradation due to heavy contamination on account of domestic refuse and silting due to soil erosion.          Therefore, Indonesia needs to rehabilitate its reservoirs or even develop them into tourism destinations. This will benefit the people economically. The regional government of Lebak District in Banten Province, for example, is now offering investors to develop its reservoirs as tourist destinations.          "We have at least three reservoirs that could be developed as tourism destinations, namely the Palayangan, Cicinta and the Cilemer reservoirs," Jumono, the head of Lebak's Dam and River Affairs Service, stated on Tuesday.

CHANGING HAVOC OF FLOODS TO BLESSING

BY Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 26 (Antara) - As a consequence of its position under the equatorial line, Indonesia is a tropical country with two annual rainy and dry seasons, with floods and droughts often wreaking havoc on crops, properties or even lives.          The impact of the geographical condition has inspired President Joko Widodo to increase the number of dams in the country, in addition to those already existing such as the Cirata and Gajah Mungkur in Java.          During his presidential campaign last year, Jokowi, as the president is intimately called, promised to build at least seven reservoirs to hold water during the rainy seasons for the benefit of irrigation to the farm land of the need for water of the people during the dry season.         One of the provinces in the country which is often affected by floods during the rainy season and drought during the dry spells is East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).          Last March, for example, several districts were hit by floods destroying hundreds of agricultural crops and causing farmers to suffer from harvest failures. Hundreds of ready to harvest maize plants failed to yield.

GOVT TO REHABILITATE CRITICALLY DEGRADED LAKES

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Oct 14 (ANTARA) - Hundreds of lakes or reservoirs which are vital to  human life in Indonesia are now in bad or even  critical condition - a situation that has prompted the government to plan their immediate rehabilitation.          At least 15 lakes in Indonesia are in deplorable conditions that urgently need to be addressed.          "Therefore, we need to seriously handle and rehabilitate these lakes which are now in an advanced stage of degradation. Efforts to save these lakes  have to receive top  priority so that water supply for the people around the lakes will not decline," Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta  on Friday.          He admitted that  a total of 15 lakes in different  parts of Indonesia were now in critical conditions and in urgent  need of  rehabilitation.          "The lakes are located in various parts of the country such as Lake Rawa Pening in Central Java and Lake Toba in North Sumatra," the minister said after opening the second National Conference on Indonesian Lakes (KNDI) here on Friday.          He said that indicators of critical lakes included the silting of the lake bed due to soil erosion and the growing of various plants such as water hyacinth that caused the drop of the lake's water.          On the measures to be taken safeguarding the critical lakes, the minister explained that the government will give priority to the  rehabilitation and the restoration 15 lakes. The 15 lakes' conditions were very critical.          "The budget for lake rehabilitation will be taken from the office of the environment minister. Other ministries like the ministry of public works will also provide assistance," Gusti Muhammad Hatta said     The efforts to restore the lakes' healthy conditions would be made through a short and long term scheme. In the short term, the lakes for example would be cleaned from water hyacinth plants because the trash from hyacinth was big and could affect the water of the lake.          He said that the handling of Central Java's Lake Rawa Pening whose condition was very critical would be prioritized and be done immediately, of course with the assistance of the local government.          "We hope that the people and the local governments would also involve in the lake safeguarding drive because it will be difficult if the efforts are only made by the central government," the minister said.          He said that besides the  15 very critical lakes, there were still 840 others whose conditions were also critical, yet  they were  not as worse as those of the 15 lakes.          In Jakarta .for example, there are at least 200 dams that need rehabilitation. In West Java's Jatiluhur district,  the water level of Lake Jatiluhur had dropped causing fish to die en masse.       "The death of fishes in Jaluhur was due to oxygen shortage following a drop in the water level of the reservoir," Komaran, head of fishery and animal husbandry service of the Purwakarta, said here on Friday.          The fish deaths  occurred in a number of sections of the lake such as in Blok Cibinong, Kaleosan and Pasirjangkung. "Golden fishes which were ready to be harvested died in the shallow sections of the Lake due to drought," he said.          "The fishes are sick in the first place and then they die due to lack of oxygen," Danu, a fish breeder, said.  Komaran said  the mass fish deaths  occurred in several parts of the Lake whose depth was not enough for fish, due to depreciation of the water volume of the lake.          Reverse currents in  Lake Jatiluhur often caused the death of thousands of tons of fish which happened at the peak of the rainy season at the end of the beginning of the year. This could happen because the lake already in bad condition.          In Jakarta and environs  at least 200 dams were also in degraded conditions.          Some time ago, the Environmental forum ,Walhi, suggested that government should renovate at least 200 dams in  Jakarta and  surrounding areas so that they would ba able  to contain excess water from heavy rains in  upstream areas.          "This revitalization program needs to be coordinated immediately between the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) and the Ministry of Public Works as well as with the regional governments of Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi areas (Jabodetabek)," Erwin Rustam of Walhi said.             He said  the program should be carried out immediately, particularly for dams whose downstream areas were residential regions. The other solution that could be pursued r to overcome possible natural disasters was to stop the conversion  of river basin (DAS) and water catchment areas into land for development projects or other purposes.             The change in the function of water catchment areas had caused the decline in the number of reservoirs in the Jabodetabek region. According to Walhi, at least 56 lakes had disappeared due to failure to  conserve them.             "The number of dams in the Jabodetak area has declined from 240 in 2004 to 184 in 2009 while the government always claimed that there are over 200 lakes at present," Erwin Rustam said.             Of the 184 dams, 19 are still in good condition while the remaining ones are now experiencing serious sedimentation and damage. In term of width, the 240 reservoirs in the Jabodetabek areas have also decreased from 2,337.10 hectares to 1,462 hectares (184 dams).             The average depth of the reservoirs also has dropped from the previous 5 to seven meters to less than 2.5 - 3 meters, including the Gintung dam in Jakarta outskirts in Cireundeu village, Ciputat sub-district, Tangerang. Three main factors have caused the disappearance of the lakes, namely the change in the function of land, the lakes being used as garbage dump sites and sedimentation.             The change in the function of land has caused the dam to be converted into resettlement, restaurant and business centers. "There are lakes in Jakarta and Depok which have become garbage dumping sites," Rustam said. ***4*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/00:10/a014) 15-10-2011 00:11:

OVER 200 DAMS AROUND JAKARTA NEED IMMEDIATE ATTENTION

By Andi Abdussalam


        Jakarta, March 28 (ANTARA) - The collapse of the Gintung reservoir which killed at least 50 people on Jakarta's outskirts on Friday has prompted many quarters to urge the authorities to pay greater attention to over 200 dams in the capital city and its satellite towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabodetabek).

        "The government should revitalize about 200 lakes in the Jabodetabek area so that they can continue to hold back water when heavy rain falls in upstream regions. It should also install early warning systems immediately," Erwin Rustam, campaigner for food and water availability of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) said here on Saturday.

        More than 50 people were killed on Friday when the sluice gate of the dam of the 21-hectare Situ Gintung lake in Cireundeu village, Ciputat, Tangerang district, Banten, broke down. Built in the 1930s, the aging Gintung Dam collapsed because it was unable to accommodate more water on account of heavy rains which poured down in some districts in Banten and West Java provinces all night long on Thursday.

        In order to anticipate other dam disasters, Walhi called on the government to install early warning systems for people living around the lakes in the Jabodetabek region. "The government should provide people with early warning systems immediately. The devices should be installed within the next 24 hours at the latest in disaster prone areas," Walhi campaigner Erwin Rustam said.

        Following the Situ Ginting disaster, Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo ordered the Jakarta Public Works Agency to immediately inspect all flood prevention systems and infrastructures throughout the capital city. "I have ordered the relevant authorities to check and recheck all the flood prevention infrastructures," he said at his City Hall office on Friday. However, he said, in Jakarta there was no embankment as big as that of Lake Gintung.

        President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed the relevant authorities to reconstruct the Situ Gintung."The burst dam must be rebuilt. We will also design the new structure in a proper way so that it will not cause any further public concern," the President said.

        In the disaster, a 250-meter-long section of the dam broke down allowing huge volumes of dam water to sweep over residential areas. Besides instructing the rebuilding of a dam of better quality, the president also said the government would help residents whose homes were damaged rebuild their dwellings.

        "The government, as it used to be, will help residents reconstruct their damaged houses," Yudhoyono said. The head of state hoped that the central and local governments would properly coordinate their efforts in the reconstruction of the Situ Gintung Dam so that the emergency response given by both sides would proceed smoothly.

        In the meantime, a public work ministry official said the government would maintain the Lake Gintung whose embankment had burst early on Friday for water conservation. "The lake is needed for water conservation and so it has to be rebuilt," the head of the Ciliwung-Cisadane river area service of the Ministry of Public Works, Pitoyo Subandrio, said.

        He said that although the area around the dam had changed into a crowded residential area the dam would not be closed. He said the government was now securing some areas around the site to prevent them from being overflowed again by setting up concrete fences.

        The Lake Gintung disaster has caused great worry of the Jakarta and its satellite town residents that a similar disaster may hit other areas, particularly those around reservoirs.

        According to Walhi, the government has to revitalize at least 200 dams in the Jabodetak areas in order to contain waters when there is heavy rains in the upstream areas, he said. "This revitalization program needs to be coordinated immediately between the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) and the Ministry of Public Works as well as with the regional governments of Jabodetabek," Erwin Rustam said.

        He said that the program should be carried out immediately, particularly for dams whose down stream areas were residential areas. The other solution that could be taken in order to over come possible natural disaster is to stop the change in the function of river basin (DAS) and water catchments areas.

        The change in the function and water catchments has caused the decline in the number of reservoirs in the Jabodetabek areas. According to Walhi, at least 56 lakes had disappeared due to lack of conservations.

        "The number of dams in the Jabodetak area has declined from 240 in 2004 to 184 in 2009 while the government always claimed that there are over 200 lakes at present," Erwin Rustam said.

        Of the 184 dams, 19 are still in good condition while the remaining ones are now experiencing serious sedimentation and damage. In term of width, the 240 reservoirs in the Jabodetabek areas have also decreased from 2,337.10 hectares to 1,462 hectares (184 dams).

        The average depth of the reservoirs also has dropped from the previous 5 to seven meters to less than 2.5 - 3 meters, including the Gintung dam in Jakarta outskirts in Cireundeu village, Ciputat sub-district, Tangerang. Three main factors have caused the disappearance of the lakes, namely the change in the function of land, the lakes being used as garbage dump sites and sedimentation.

        The change in the function of land has caused the dam to be converted into resettlement, restaurant and business centers. "There are lakes in Jakarta and Depok which have become garbage dumping sites," Rustam said.

        After all, efforts made so far to restore the lake function were partially in nature. According to Rustam efforts made so far have not yet been in line with the River Basin Areas (DAS) restoration program of the Forestry Ministry.***3*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/12:45/A/O001)