Jlantah Dam Rp1.02 Trillion Will Cause Water Crisis in Karanganyar
Jlantah Dam in Karanganyar Regency, Central Java, not only plays a role in maintaining water availability for the agricultural sector, but also improving drinking water services for the community.
The water infrastructure built by the Ministry of Public Works (PU) is able to supply raw water at 150 liters per second, so that the coverage of drinking water services in three sub-districts increased to 100 percent.
Minister PU Dody Hanggodo said that dams are strategic infrastructure that not only serves to control water, but also ensures that people's basic needs can be met.
"Food self-sufficiency, energy self-sufficiency and water self-sufficiency require orderly, sustainable and truly water governance to the people. Dams are upstream of that service," said Dody, quoted from a written statement, Tuesday, July 21.
With a raw water supply of 150 liters per second, the Jlantah Dam is used to improve drinking water services in three sub-districts in Karanganyar Regency.
Before the dam was operational, the coverage of drinking water services in the area only reached around 20 percent.
Now, all the needs for drinking water services have been met or reached 100 percent.
Not only that, the dam also supports the fulfillment of the domestic water needs of the community. The government projects that the level of water self-sufficiency in the region can reach 71.41 percent by 2040.
The Jlantah Dam was inaugurated by President Prabowo Subianto on Friday, July 10, 2026.
The dam, which was built by the Ministry of PU through the Bengawan Solo River Basin Agency (BBWS) of the Directorate General of Water Resources (Ditjen SDA), has a capacity of 11.82 million cubic meters with a flooded area of 54.77 hectares.
In addition to supplying drinking water, the Jlantah Dam also serves to reduce the risk of flooding in an area of 87 hectares of rice fields and supports an irrigation network for 1,494 hectares of agricultural land.
Through this irrigation service, as many as 806 hectares of rice fields spread across 15 irrigation areas obtained a sustainable water supply.
The availability of irrigation services has encouraged an increase in the crop index from 172 percent to 272 percent, so that farmers can increase the frequency of planting in a year.
The government also still has the potential to develop irrigation services covering 688 hectares in 20 irrigation areas as well as supporting a new rice paddy printing program covering 229.90 hectares.
In the energy sector, Jlantah Dam also supports the energy self-sufficiency target through the use of a 0.625 megawatt (MW) micro-hydro power plant (PLTMH) and a 10 MW solar power plant (PLTS), so that the total potential for electricity generation reaches 10.625 MW.
The construction of the Jlantah Dam was carried out from 2019 to 2024 with an investment value of around Rp. 1.02 trillion.
His presence is expected to be a long-term solution in facing the threat of drought, especially during the El Nino phenomenon while strengthening water, food and energy resilience in Karanganyar Regency.