Solution comes from down below

What lies beneath: Pipes installed at the Baron cave in Central Java’s Gunungkidul can transport up to 150 liter of fresh water per minute from an underground river to locals living in the dry area. JP/Slamet Susanto

For decades now, water, water, water – or rather the lack of it, has been a recurrent problem affecting hundreds of thousands of people living in the limestone hills of Gunungkidul regency, Yogyakarta, especially during the dry season.

The chronic water shortage occurs in almost all regions of the regency, with residents forced to walk miles to access fresh water. Either that, or they must use water from the polluted lake, extract the waste from it at night and use it the following day.

In times of peak drought, residents have been forced to sell their assets to buy water. A widely used local idiom says that if people want to drink, they have to sell timber, and if they want more water, they have to sell a cow.

Nowadays, more fortunate Gunungkidul residents can access water resources from an underground river water operation located in Baron Cave, an estuary from an underground river located 60 kilometers southeast of Yogyakarta. Since the operation began in October 2009, thousands of cubic meters of water have been distributed to residents’ houses.

The Japanese government gave Indonesia a Rp 84.6 billion (US$8 million) grant to fund the installation of the Baron Cave clean water project, consisting of a purification plant, transmission pipes, pumps and a portion of the primary distribution pipe network.

After the installation is completed, management will be handed over to the Regional Water Company (PDAM) in Gunungkidul Regency. 


Using electricity, three large pumps lift the ground water that flows into the Baron Cave. The water is then channelled into a natural filtration tank.

“The level of water turbidity in the first Baron is akin to that of bottled mineral water and can be drunk immediately because it is not polluted,” said Handoko, who has spent 40 years working as a clean water operator in the first reservoir called Br 1.

After filtration, the water is then channelled into the first reservoir called the first Baron. The water is then distributed to the three reservoirs adjacent to the community – the second Baron, third Baron and fourth Baron – using electricity.

The water is then delivered to households through a network of pipes. The water reaches 4,000 houses spread across four subdistricts, Saptosari, Tanjungsari, Panggang and Paliyan.

Guarding source of life: Handoko, working at the water reserve in Gunungkidul, oversees the supply of water pumped from Baron cave’s underground river. JP/Slamet Susanto

But one of the major challenges, according to director of the Regional Water Company (PDAM) Gunungkidul, Tjipto Mulyono, is the prohibitive cost of electricity, required to pump this water. The Regional Water Company (PDAM) spends Rp 160 million to pump clean water eight hours a day every month from the Baron Cave.

“We have a debt of Rp 1 billion from last month, because of the high cost of electricity,” Tjipto Mulyono said, adding that large amounts of electricity were required to pump underground water in the hilly region of Gunungkidul.

Two projects, for example, use water from an underground river in Bribin, said Mulyono. For the
water to reach residents’ homes, it has to be raised at 10 different locations.

“The water must be continually pumped using electricity. This situation is unlike other regions where water only has to be raised once,” said Mulyono.

The cost of channelling water to people’s homes amounts to Rp 4,250 per cubic meter but residents are currently only being charged Rp 3,000 per cubic meter — which a few residents still find expensive given the PDAM water rate before the project started was Rp 1,250 per cubic meter.

However, before the installation of the clean water project, the PDAM water system would frequently break down.

“This situation could go on for two weeks before the water started to flow again,” Surati, a mother of two said.

To meet her water needs for two weeks, Surati used to have to purchase a 5,000-liter water tank for
Rp 90,000 (US$9).

“If there was a drought, we sometimes wouldn’t take showers to save water. Now we can have 10 showers a day and there is still plenty of water left,” she said. 


On average, Surati spends Rp 100,000 to Rp 140,000 to use the clean water provided by the Japanese aid program.

“It’s cheaper compared to what we had to pay before, but still expensive in my opinion,” said Surati.

There are at least six other underground rivers in Gunungkidul that could be used for similar projects, but residents have not been able to tap into those water resources as the technology and electricity required to pump river water from underground is too expensive for them.

The situation might change though. A German-Indonesian joint venture plans to use micro-hydro power to pump water from the Bribin underground river to the surface, to provide water to 75,000 residents of Gunungkidul, while another clean water project in Ngobaran has just been launched.

If underground water resources can be used, the water crisis, a chronic problem in Gunungkidul, may be overcome, Mulyono said. For example, the first stage of supplying water from the Baron Cave could satisfy the needs of at least 15,000 families or 60,000 people, assuming one house consists of four people.

But using underground river water is not easy.

“The cost of installing the equipment required is too high and it’s impossible for the community to do the job themselves. So the usage is controlled because the regional government isn’t able to do everything at the same time,” said Mulyono.