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Artificial ground water recharge recommended
The Office of the State Minister for Research and Technology has developed Indonesia’s first artificial ground-water recharge system to cope with the declining volume of ground water in cities due to the increasing population
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he Office of the State Minister for Research and Technology has developed Indonesia’s first artificial ground-water recharge system to cope with the declining volume of ground water in cities due to the increasing population.
Head of the ministry’s science and technology needs division, Teddy W. Subinda, told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the ministry had already built an artificial ground-water recharge system with a rechargeable capacity of 178 cubic meters per day.
The artificial ground water recharge system reaches 193 meters below the surface and is located under the ministry’s parking area. Teddy said it took up to Rp 300 million (US$31,844) to develop the technology.
“The capacity can be 100 times larger than the technology used to extract water from a depth of 2 to 3 meters,” he said.
“The recharging capacity will conserve underground water because it stored unused water from air conditioners and overflowing rain water infiltrating soils.”
Teddy said the artificial ground-water recharge development project started in March.
He added that although the government had guaranteed water resource conservation with Law No. 7/2004 on Water Resources, many city administrations in Indonesia had yet to issue bylaws prohibiting big buildings from using water extracted from two to three meters below the ground surface.
“Houses can use underground water extracted from two to three meter downs, but big buildings should not do so,” he said, adding that constructing a well two to three meters in depth would cost around Rp 3 million.
“Instead, artificial ground-water recharge is recommended for big buildings, as it won’t damage the environment,” he said.
He urged city administrations to issue the necessary bylaws, saying that this would reduce the possibility of land subsidence in cities across the country. He said the greater Jakarta area and other big cities like Semarang, Surabaya, Bandung and Medan were developing cities that needed special approaches to water exploitation, as well as conservation.
As the heart of the country’s business districts, Teddy said the greater Jakarta area population might reach 39 million by 2025.
Teddy said Jakarta’s population would be the highest, and might reach 13 million, followed by Bogor with 10 million, Tangerang’s population would account for 9.2 million while Bekasi’s population would hit 6.8 million. (nia)
