Jakarta – With more than 50 percent of lakes in Greater Jakarta in subpar condition, the government and administration have been told to enforce regulations more strictly and restore lakes to prevent another Situ Gintung like disaster (in which nearly 100 people died) from happening, a discussion concluded on Tuesday.
Jakarta Green Map coordinator Nirwono Joga said that the poorly coordinated government institutions for lake management allowed a great deal of public and officials violations.
"It is strange to see that the public works agency only has the authority to maintain the lake water, while several other agencies can issue permits to build houses or even big malls around the lakes," Nirwono, who is also the head of the Indonesia Landscape Architecture Study Group, said.
According to existing regulations, the construction of houses and other buildings is prohibited within a 50 meter radius of any lake. However, buildings are commonly found around the city's lakes.
Nirwono accused the city administration of turning a blind eye to the widespread violations.
"No wonder many lakes are now in critical condition."
Last month, more than 100 people were killed and hundreds of homes were destroyed after the wall of the 70-year-old Situ Gintung reservoir in Tangerang burst, flooding nearby villages.
Earlier in 2007, the residents of Situ Gintung reported cracks in the wall and asked the public works agency to take action; their pleas went unanswered.
According to the data from the directorate general of water conservation at the Public Works Ministry, as of January 2009 there are 182 lakes in the wider JABODETABEK area.
Under the assumption that each lake is 1 to 1.5 meters deep, Nirwono estimated they could hold almost 30 million cubic meter of water, supposedly enough to prevent severe flooding in Jakarta.
However, the data shows that less than 50 percent of the lakes are in good condition.
For example, only five of the 22 lakes in Jakarta work properly, while the smaller Rorotan, Rawa Kendal, Rawa Ulujami and Penggalingan lakes have disappeared entirely.
In the Bogor regency, 13 of the 94 lakes have reportedly been converted into farms or residential areas.
Meanwhile, the biggest lake in Greater Jakarta, Lake Situ Rawa in Cipondoh, Tangerang, has plummeted in capacity by more than 50 percent, from 270.3 hectares in 1970 to 130.4 hectares in 2007.
"Big lakes will stay, although they keep plummeting, but lakes with an area less than 4 hectares will disappear within several next years if the government does not take immediate action to save them," Nirwono said. (hwa)