Palyja, Aetra boost supply, reduce use of groundwater

Mustaqim Adamrah ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 07/09/2008 10:48 AM  |  City

The Jakarta mining agency is aiming to end all use of groundwater in dense business districts by asking water operators PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) and PT Aetra Air Jakarta to increase their water supply.

The head of the groundwater and mineral management subagency Dian Wiwekowati said Tuesday that Palyja had installed booster pumps to serve groundwater and tap water subscribers in the Mega Kuningan business district in South Jakarta.

"The booster pumps have increased the water supply from Palyja from 30 liters per second (lps) to 50 lps," she told The Jakarta Post at her office.

"The additional water supply of 20 lps can replace the 19.6 lps of water now taken out of the ground, so subscribers will no longer be using any groundwater."

The agency's data show there are 15 groundwater users extracting 50,697 cubic meters per month, or 19.6 lps, of groundwater from 24 deep wells in the area, where many skyscrapers are situated.

The groundwater users are all Palyja subscribers, said Dian.

She said Palyja's attempt to install the booster pumps was part of the operator's effort to supply clean water as required in a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

This MOU -- drawn up in 2004 by the agency, private water companies Palyja and Aetra and the city's water operator PT PAM Jaya -- requires the private water operators to supply clean water to minimize groundwater use, she said.

She said other locations that use both groundwater and tap water had also been nominated for similar projects.

"We've chosen Kelapa Gading and Mangga Dua (both in North Jakarta) for the next effort as there are many high-rise buildings that use a large amount of groundwater in those two areas," said Dian.

Kelapa Gading is within Aetra's service area, while Mangga Dua is in Palyja's.

Palyja spokeswoman Meyritha Maryanie said the booster pumps serving Mega Kuningan had been fully operational since last month.

"After the installment of our two booster pumps, our records show that our 17 major subscribers, five-star hotels and high-rise buildings, have started consuming between 30 lps and 50 lps of tap water, compared to 20 lps previously," she told the Post.

In response to a plan for similar projects in Mangga Dua, she said Palyja would be able to meet the agency's target for zero groundwater use by "controlling valves for the area's tap water network, without booster pumps".

Aetra's president director Syahril Japarin said his company would not install booster pumps in Kelapa Gading as its network "is sufficient and ready to support the agency's program".

"We only need to fix our booster pumps in Sungai Bambu and in Sumur Batu (both in North Jakarta), which we are currently doing," he told the Post, adding that the repairs would be finished by the end of this year.

Other potential areas, like Pulo Gadung in East Jakarta and Sudirman central business district in South Jakarta, are also potential candidates, according to Dian.

Overexploitation of groundwater in the capital has raised concerns about a lack of water supply and land use, according to the agency.

High-rise buildings and industries have long been blamed for excessively extracting groundwater.

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