Jakarta Threatened To Sink By 2050, Deputy Governor Riza Asks Offices And Hotels To Stop Using Groundwater

Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria (DOK VOI/Diah Ayu)

JAKARTA - Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria responded to the prediction that 90 percent of Jakarta's area is predicted to sink in 2050 due to land subsidence.

Riza also emphasized to offices to hotels to no longer suck up groundwater for their operational and commercial activities. This is because groundwater extraction is one of the factors that causes the land surface to decline.

"For industry, offices, hotels, apartments, we also ask not to use pumps to get clean water but through existing PAM channels. This is also monitored and evaluated because this is also one of the reasons for excessive groundwater use," said Riza at City Hall. DKI Jakarta, Tuesday, August 9th.

Moreover, he said, currently Governor Regulation No. 93/2021 has been issued. In this regulation, DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has established a groundwater-free zone.

The criteria for buildings that are subject to groundwater control in the groundwater-free zone include buildings with a floor area of 5,000 square meters or more, and/or buildings with 8 floors or more.

In addition, Riza also hopes that people who live in areas that have been channeled with PAM water will no longer use groundwater to fulfill their clean water needs.

"Of course DKI Jakarta through PAM Jaya wants to make efforts to accelerate together the central government and PUPR towards the provision of clean water. So that there is no longer what is called groundwater extraction through pumps in homes," he said.

Previously, the President Director of Perumda PAM Jaya, Arief Nasrudin, said that 90 percent of the area in Jakarta, especially in the northern region, was predicted to sink in 2050 because the land surface continued to decline.

This prediction, said Arief, could happen if the people of Jakarta continued to exploit the use of ground water for their daily needs.

"In the near future, when this continues, in 2050 it is predicted that 90 percent of the Jakarta area, especially in the northern part, will be submerged because of culture or later the use of water which is not resolved immediately," said Arief in a virtual discussion, Monday, August 8th.

To prevent the sinking of Jakarta from actually happening, Arief said that his party is trying to provide PAM water services that flow throughout the Jakarta area.