Jakarta – The water table in Jakarta has dropped by two meters due to the severe drought in Java this year, threatening water supplies to nearly half of Jakarta's 8.6 million population, a Cabinet minister says.
State Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim said on Tuesday that the worst examples had occurred along Jl. Daan Mogot, West Jakarta, and large parts of North Jakarta.
"Areas along Jl. Daan Mogot and Jelambar, West Jakarta, as well as Kapuk, Sunter and Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, have suffered the worst drop in the water table," Nabiel was quoted by Antara as saying at a hearing with House of Representatives (DPR) Commission VIII for the environment.
According to Nabiel, the drop in the water table would affect 46 percent of Jakarta residents who relied on both shallow and deep groundwater as their water source.
This means people relying on artesian wells for their water supply will have to dig deeper if they want clean underground water.
Based on the latest census carried out by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2003, about 8.6 million people live in Jakarta.
A severe drought has hit Indonesia south of the equator this year, including Java, with hardly any rain falling between May and August. Water levels at a number of important reservoirs in Java are perilously close to a critical level that would leave reservoirs unable to supply water to hydropower plants or tap water companies, or meet demands for irrigation.
Some areas have even suffered from a severe water shortage, and crop failure has caused Indonesia to lose 600,000 tons of rice production.
Power outages are also likely if the severe drought continues until October.
Rain has indeed fallen intermittently in several areas of Java, but the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) warned that the rain was localized and not an indication that the rainy season was about to begin.
BMG also said widespread environmental destruction in the country, including uncontrolled logging and development of open land, had exacerbated this year's drought, believed to be the second-worst since the 1997 prolonged dry season caused by the El Ni$o phenomenon.
Nabiel went on to say that lack of water supply in Jakarta had caused most areas in the city to experience a water crisis, particularly in South Jakarta, southern parts of East Jakarta and southern parts of West Jakarta.
"Some water problems in Jakarta would appear to be a battle for access to groundwater between residents and industry, as well as being a contributory factor to an increase in fires," he said.
He added that electricity supplies to Jakarta might soon reach critical levels; thus, alternating power blackouts might become inevitable.
In the event of alternating power outages, water would have to be supplied via tanker trucks, he added.
At such a time, people would have to reduce electricity consumption, including the use of water pumps, Nabiel said.
BMG has predicted that the rainy season will start in November in Jakarta, although it may begin earlier in some parts of Java.