Saltwater intrusion contaminates wells

Bantul: Seawater has found its way further inland in coastal areas in southern Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, killing dozens of fish and contaminating dozens of residents’ wells over the past month.

“This intrusion results from global warming that has increased the sea levels,” Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Agency head Edy Machmud Hidayat said on Friday.

He said global warming had melted polar ice caps and caused the sea level in waters south of Bantul, part of the Indian Ocean, to rise by 15 centimeters. Not only has the sea-level rise caused erosion, but it has also caused seawater to diffuse from the ocean into freshwater aquifers, he said.

The situation has become worse because many residents use water from shallow wells to irrigate their paddy fields and plots of agricultural land along the coastline.