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n a bid to better manage water catchment areas in Jakarta, the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) is currently rehabilitating two major watersheds in the capital: Ciliwung and Cisadane, which are in poor condition.

Nur Hygiawati Rahayu, Bappenas deputy director for conservation and ecosystem development, said during a recent discussion held by the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI) that the efforts included soil and water conservation engineering, integrated wastewater management and the provision of technical assistance and training to local residents.

'€œManaging the Cisadane and Ciliwung watersheds should be of the highest priority. Both are listed on the watershed priority list for the current national development plan from 2015 to 2019,'€ Nur said during the discussion titled Sustainable Urban Water Management.

Based on Bappenas data, the Cisadane and Ciliwung watersheds cover an area of 154,000 and 38,000 hectares, respectively, stretching across various administrative regions of Bogor and Jakarta. However, the performance of the watersheds is poor due to high levels of erosion.

'€œWe will also rehabilitate forests and critical lands to improve the watersheds. However, those efforts require commitment from all stakeholders, including the private sector, NGOs and local people,'€ she said.

There have been calls for the government to revitalize the watersheds for years, because a higher water retention capacity would help reduce floods in downstream areas, like Jakarta.

The rivers were once clean enough to be used for drinking water but, over time, have become polluted by mainly liquid waste from both industry and households.

University of Indonesia researcher Chusnul Mariyah said overcoming the flood issue had to begin with individual habits.

'€œEvery year we always blame the river, watersheds or heavy rain for the flood, but we forget, or maybe refuse, to blame ourselves,'€ she said.

Chusnul also emphasized the importance of Jakarta authorities working together with neighboring regional administrations in tackling the flood issue, as it was impossible for Jakarta to handle it on its own.

'€œFor example, Jakarta has a waste issue as it produces tons of garbage every day, but on the other hand it has plenty of money in its city budget. The city can use the money to find places that can contain its waste,'€ she said.

Jakarta City Development Planning Board (Bappeda) head Tuty Kusumawaty said that the city administration would seek to increase green and blue open space and increase canal and river capacity with a target to achieve a water body ratio of 5 percent for the city.

Tuty also said that the city was planning to establish an integrated water management system to make sure that instead of ejecting it to the sea, the water could be saved and utilized.

'€œWhether it is in the form of rain, rivers, canals, ground water or even waste water, we can use it, as long as it is still on the land,'€ she said.

Jakarta'€™s insufficient and shrinking green areas give the capital a high runoff rate, regularly causing flooding in the rainy season and a scarcity of groundwater during prolonged dry seasons.