Residents warned of river overflows

Achmad Faisal ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  SURABAYA   |  Mon, 11/23/2009 1:37 PM  |  The Archipelago

The East Java Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) has warned residents living along the banks of the Bengawan Solo River to be prepared for possible flooding amid the arrival of the rainy season.

Head of the agency Harjogi said recently there were at least five areas along the length of the river susceptible to flooding. They are the regencies of Ngawi, Bojonegoro, Tuban, Lamongan and Gresik.

"Of the five, Bojonegoro could be the hardest hit as the water absorption quality in the region is relatively low," Harjogi said.

He added that floods might also occur along the banks of other rivers including the Situbondo-Bondowoso Sampeyan River and the Brantas River, but they would not be as big or as destructive as the flooding of the Bengawan Solo River.

The surplus of water that caused floods in the downstream areas of Bengawan Solo River, according to Harjogi, was due to the limited capacity of the Gajah Mungkur Dam located upstream in Wonogiri, Central Java, coupled with annual downpours.

As part of flood mitigation measures, he said, his office had been conducting embankment construction and dredging in a number of the affected regions.

He said the dredging activities done in Pelangwot subdistrict, Laren district, Lamongan, was expected to increase the water flow from the previous capacity of 400 cubic meters per second to 600 cubic meters per second. "Angency preparations include reminding people who live along the banks of the river to make their own preparations in anticipation of floods in their respective regions," he said.

Acting head of BPBD Bojonegoro, Kasiyanto, said his office had finished strengthening six kilometers of embankments along the Bengawan Solo River in Kanor district. "However, if the flood waters reach up to 15 meters deep they could still pass over the embankment," he added.

He said he was confident in the embankments, however, as the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency had predicted that rain falls across East Java province this year would be close to average.

This, he added, meant that major floods like those that happened in previous years would be less likely to happen.

The National Development Planning Agency recorded a loss of over Rp 2 trillion due to floods caused by the overflowing Bengawan Solo River last year.

To anticipate future flooding caused by the overflowing Bengawan Solo River, the central government has promised to build a dam especially designed to accommodate excess water from the river.

The dam is to be built in the bordering sub-district of Jipang, Cepu district, Blora regency, Central Java, up to the Tebon subdistrict in Padangan district, Bojonegoro regency, East Java.

Named as the Jipang Dam, the Rp 17.3 trillion development will cover an area of about 13,000 hectares, 60 percent of which is in the East Java province jurisdiction, the remaining 40 percent is in Central Java province.

Head of the East Java Irrigation Public Works Agency, Mustofa Kamal Basya, said the dam was designed to have the capacity to hold 920 million cubic meters.

"The project is assured to be the solution to the floods caused by the overflowing Bengawan Solo River from the upstream down to the downstream areas," he said.

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