Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Experts say that the East Java Legislative Council's recently approved draft bylaw on water management does not reflect the public interest is not ecologically friendly.

Corporations would be able to exploit underground water if the draft bylaw was enacted – proof that the proposed legislation was not protecting the public interests, environmental and natural resource legal expert Purnawan Dwikora Negara of Malang Widyagama University said.

"The bylaw does not protect the water supply or ecological sustainability," Purnawan said over the weekend.

Water needed hundreds or thousands of years to descend into empty spaces or basins beneath the earth, increasing the possibility for land subsidence if underground water was continuous extracted, Purnawan said. "Underground water is a vulnerable resource because its availability is limited," he said.

Purnawan was critical of article 40 of the draft, which he said would oblige companies licensed to extract underground water to give 10 percent of the water to local communities.

"It's contempt of humanity... an obvious form of eco-plunder. Water is not just a source of life for the community. It's life itself."

Purnawan said bottled water companies were allowed only to use surface water, including natural spring water. "A well should only be given on the condition that the company can only exploit the water after the local community can meet its needs for water and after they agree to the exploitation," he said.

Separately, Zia Ul Haq, the director of the Pooldev Institute Malang, a public policy NGO, said the bylaw was not drafted with the public interests foremost in mind. "There is a possibility that the bylaw was drafted at the request of some corporation to secure their business in the province in the long run," Zia said.

Many critical issues were not adequately addressed in the draft, Zia said, including a stipulation that ignored pressurized aquifers, providing limits on water extraction from unpressurized aquifers only.

"It also does not specify company settlements on sustainability for the water resources. It should mention something about it," he said.

Separately, Irwan Setiawan, one of the East Java Legislative Council members who approved the draft, said the proposed legislation would address all the concerns of the community on underground water management.

"We will keep an eye on the bylaw so as not to prioritize commercialization, but on resources instead," Irwan, a member of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said.

The governor would have sole authority approve technical recommendations under the draft, Irwan said. "The governor has to have the capability of mapping the province's underground water condition."

It would not be possible for the administration or the council to stop businesses from using underground water. "We still have time to revise the bylaw if we later find deviations from the facts," Irwan said.