T

he excessive use and continuous exploration of groundwater without permits by thousands of manufacturers in Tangerang regency is blamed for the area’s worsening water quality and water shortages.

The monitoring and evaluation team from the Clean Water Cooperation in the regency found in their recent research that at several locations, the groundwater had become brackish.

“The water is now salty. Should this condition be ignored, it will only get worse,” the team’s secretary, Yenni M Zein, told reporters Thursday.

In their research, she said, the team found that the excessive exploration of groundwater by industrial firms had caused cavities under ground to enlarge, which enabled seawater to seep inland.

Separately, Ahmad Hafiz, head of the Tangerang Integrated Permit Service Agency (BP2T), said that the regency is home to some 4,000 industrial firms but less then 20 percent of them had obtained permits to use groundwater (SIPA) from the local administration.

“Data at the agency showed that only as many as 1,347 industrial firms that had obtained SIPAs issued by the administration,” he said.

Andi Laurus, chairman of Tangerang branch of Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), acknowledged that many firms operating in regency relied on groundwater.

However, he argued, not all groundwater use by industrial firms required a SIPA.

“If industrial firms use groundwater as a raw material in their products, of course they must possess a SIPA from the local administration. But, if the firms only used groundwater for daily needs like washing and bathing, just like a household’s needs, they have no obligation to apply for a SIPA,” he told The Jakarta Post.

He said that the Tangerang regency’s water utility company, PDAM Tirta Kerta Raharja, could not provide all areas across the regency with clean water, so that there is no reason not to use groundwater for daily needs.

“We will follow up with the association members on how many of them had hold SIPAs and which companies used groundwater illegally,” he said.