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View all search resultsHarsher sanctions await groundwater exploiters
The city administration says it will seek to impose harsher sanctions upon residents and companies stealing or illegally tapping groundwater
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T
he city administration says it will seek to impose harsher sanctions upon residents and companies stealing or illegally tapping groundwater.
Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama said on Friday that harsher measures had to be taken to curb rampant water theft and illegal groundwater tapping that had contributed to the growing land subsidence problem in the city.
'We will no longer use the bylaw because the sanction is too light. We will enforce the 2009 environment protection and management law that carries jail sentences and high fines,' he said.
He added that the city administration should find an effective means of punishing perpetrators and educating residents to comply with the law.
'We can bring illegal groundwater drillers to court because they have deteriorated the environment and diminished the city's water capacity,' he said.
He added that perpetrators should realize that the negative impacts of groundwater theft and overexploitation far outweighed the financial benefits as it threatened the city's sustainability.
Ahok added that groundwater exploitation in the city had reached alarming levels. 'We can only provide 3 percent of the total market demand, while the larger share of demand must be met by neighboring regions,' he said.
Ahok, who will be appointed as Jakarta governor to replace president-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo later this month, said he fully supported supplying Jakarta with water from regions outside Jakarta, but said residents should be educated to conserve water for the next generation.
'Expenses to cover water theft and the overexploitation of groundwater has risen almost 40 percent,' he said.
Ahok said he also planned to hire a lawyer to advise city administrators in handling illegal groundwater tapping cases.
- Groundwater exploitation has reached alarming levels, says Ahok
- City to use environmental law to impose harsher sanctions
The city's water system, which is supplied by two private water operators ' PT PAM Lyonaise Jaya (Palyja) and PT Aetra Air Jakarta ' is currently able to satisfy just 40 to 60 percent of market demand.
Most residents still use groundwater for daily activities like washing, cooking and bathing, leading to overexploitation; the major cause of land subsidence in Jakarta, which has reached 7.5 centimeters per year. The worst subsidence is found in North Jakarta.
Businesses are also guilty of illegal drilling, with many hotels and offices tapping into groundwater without permission from city authorities.
North Jakarta Mayor Heru Budi Hartono said that with the deputy governor's full support, he would take harsher measures against companies drilling deep wells without permits.
'I have warned five business about their illegal wells,' he said, adding that the entities included apartments, malls and factories.
Heru added that he would cooperate with the police to prosecute private entities overexploiting groundwater under the environment protection law.
'I have determined that if we use the ground water exploitation tax bylaw, we will only generate some Rp 200 million to Rp 300 million in fines. The amount is too small [to deter] big companies in the city,' he said.
Heru added that he would set up a task force to crack down on all offices, factories, apartments and shopping malls, saying that he would limit the issuance of permits for deep-well drilling at locations that had already had water-pipe access.
'They should only have one or two deep wells,' he said.
