Jakarta Predicted to be Underwater By 2012

Monday, 02 March, 2009 | 16:23 WIB 

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Firdaus Ali, a technical environment researcher from the University of Indonesia, predicts that Jakarta will be underwater before the year 2012. He cited as the cause the excessive suction of ground water in the Jakarta area, resulting in the continuing subsidence of the land surface. “Not only will the city go underwater, we will also suffer from dehydration prior to that,” said the doctorate from the University of Wisconsin contacted by Tempo yesterday. 

Firdaus’ calculation was based on the data of land subsidence in the capital city, which ranges around 10 centimeters a year in average. In West Jakarta, during the past 11 years, the land surface subsided by 1,2 meters. In Kemayoran and Thamrin in Central Jakarta, it has lost ground by 80 centimeters for the last 8 years. “If this continues, Jakarta’s land surface will be below sea level,” Firdaus said. 

City Environment Committee chief, Darrundono, shared a similar opinion, pointing out that extreme exploitation of ground water has caused a drastic land subsidence. He said ground water supply is not increasing, yet its consumption keeps going higher. “A ground water crisis in Jakarta has come to a dangerous stage,” he cautioned. 

The Jakarta administration plans to increase fees for ground water usage by luxury homes and industries to 6 – 16 times higher. This is aimed at reducing consumption which has become more exploitative. 

Increasing fees, Firdaus said, is one of the instruments to reduce its usage. Users would be persuaded to use potable water from the services of the state-run Water Supply Company (PAM). “Ground water tariffs should be higher than that of PAM,” he said. 

Every year, 320 million water cubic meters are sucked up from the ground, according to Firdaus. Yet, the reasonable amount should be only 38 million cubic meters. Meanwhile, the official data cites only 21 million cubic meters allowed to be consumed. “The remaining must be taken illegally,” he said. 

According to Firdaus, extreme ground water exploitation creates a hollow in the earth. The resulting pressure causes the land subsidence. There are already many hollow areas around. “Even local rainfall can flood many areas,” he said. 

Darrundono said the subsidence will cause Jakarta to slowly go below sea level. Sea water intrusion has currently reached 11 – 12 kilometers from the coast. “Sea water intrusion has reached the Setia Budi area in South Jakarta. Floods will become even more unmanageable,” he said. Sea water intrusion and subsidence can also cause buildings to collapse. 

Darrundono criticized the construction of super-block buildings and skyscrapers in Jakarta, which also takes up excessive amount of ground water. 

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