Preparations For Facing Floods Starting From South Jakarta

City planning is an important thing so that water is easier to absorb when it rains. BETWEEN/Gantet

JAKARTA - After passing a long dry season, several areas of Jakarta this November began to experience rain. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicts a number of provinces including Jakarta will enter the rainy season this month.

Therefore, the Jakarta area needs to carry out flood mitigation, especially from the south, because there are three rivers that cause flooding upstream in southern Jakarta and pass through different buffer areas of population character and culture.

The Ciliwung River, Angke River, and Pesanggrahan River are often a serious concern of the DKI Jakarta Government and local governments that are traversed every time they enter the rainy season because there are several locations that have been subject to flooding.

Kali Ciliwung with the upstream river in Puncak, West Java, entered the Bogor area, West Java and its flow entered the Katulampa Dam, Bogor City then flowed to a number of areas in Jakarta and ended in Jakarta Bay.

The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) has completed the construction of the Ciawi Reservoir which aims to reduce the flow of water entering the Ciliwung River and is still completing the revitalization work (returning function) of the river.

Improvements also continue to be carried out along the Angke River and Pesanggrahan River in the form of construction of flood-retaining sheet piles to dredging riverbeds in order to normalize river function.

Kali Angke asal dari Kabupaten Bogor terus masuk wilayah Jakarta hingga bermuara di kawasan Angke Jakarta Utara.

Kali Pesanggrahan yang upstreamnya berada di Kabupaten Bogor melewati Kota Tangerang Selatan, sampai ke beberapa wilayah Jakarta sebelum akhirnya bermuara di Cengkareng.

According to experts, river damage in the field of water resources has been seen when the water drys while during the rain the water discharge is very large, causing damage in lower locations.

There are only two choices of such phenomena to restore the function of the river and then build reservoirs and dams so that when it rains, it does not all go directly to the river.

Housing

Floods often occur in the housing along the three rivers, especially those that have locations below or parallel to rivers.

Several housing developers whose areas are subject to flooding also make preparations, one of which is by building pumps and polders to prevent inundation.

Polder is an area that is designed in such a way and limited by embankments so that water runoff from outside the area cannot enter. Only the surface flow or excess water originating from the area itself will be managed by the polder system

The Synthesis Development development company plans to reduce the risk of flooding in residential projects located in the Ciputat area, South Tangerang.

The land reviewed for development is indeed free from flooding. Even so, the company ensures to conduct field observations on waterways around the housing complex. Field observations are needed to analyze local government actions in reducing flood risk.

Developing companies usually take the first steps by observing the waterways around the housing complex. That way it can be known which land is around the riverbanks and which conditions will currently be handled.

One of the observations carried out is in collaboration with the South Tangerang City Government to prevent flooding. Previously, the local City Government had made efforts to deal with flooding by cleaning and building sheet piles at several flow points that flowed in the Ciputat River.

The goal is to find out effective steps and be able to adjust the flow environment in the area to a smaller scale specifically around housing projects and housing complexes next to it.

Coordination also needs to be carried out with neighboring housing related to the surrounding river flow at the time of observation. It is planned that normalization of the river flow as a whole will also be needed.

For other developers, they are optimistic that their location is safe from flooding along with collaboration involving the central and regional governments to restore the function of rivers and canals.

Floods have indeed become a problem for the buffer zone of Jakarta and even hit several residential areas. Usually before entering the rainy season, the local government has carried out a clean-up action by involving residents.

Some residents have even designed the house in such a way, namely by raising the face of the house or making the building level.

The top is usually placed in important parts such as document storage rooms, family rooms, and even kitchens. So that when flooded they are still able to stay at home by functioning all the needs on the second floor.

Environmental improvements

The key to flood control, especially in southern Jakarta, is to restore environmental functions along the river.

One of the obstacles to restoring the river's function is the existence of such dense residential areas in the three rivers that originate in Bogor.

So this is what makes the river revitalization program in several locations slow. The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government said that although there were obstacles in the field, land acquisition continued, especially residents along the riverbanks.

Even though it is slow, the 119 kilometer river revitalization program continues and is expected to be completed by 2024.

To prevent flooding, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has completed the construction of the Ciliwung River drain to the East Flood Canal which was inaugurated at the end of July 2023.

Head of the Ciliwung River Basin Center-Cisadane Bambang Heri Mulyono ensured that he would continue to evaluate the sodetan building in order to provide maximum results on flood control. With the completion of a number of flood control buildings, the current rainy season can be a trial.

Some experts say that with Jakarta's contours lower than the sea, it is impossible to just free themselves from flooding, but at least the flooding that occurs can recede more quickly.

Meanwhile, areas that are not passed by rivers (times) also improve by repairing drainage and building infiltration wells.

Warga Jakarta berharap langkah-langkah yang dilakukan pemerintah pusat berkolaborasi dengan daerah ini bisa menyelesaikan persoalan banjir setiap kali datang musim hujan.

However, the participation of residents in flood control in the capital city also plays an important role. One of them is by always maintaining waterways in the environment.

The problem of flooding is sometimes not sourced from rivers but rather due to rainwater that cannot enter the canal so that the environment becomes inundated.

Related to this, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has prepared a mobile pump to anticipate the existence of inundated settlements just because there is a blockage in the drainage channel.

The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has prepared 30 permanent pumps and 200 moving pumps that are deployed to various areas to help residential areas inundated during the rainy season.