Mayor Admits Flood Management In Semarang Is Constrained By Waste And Damage To Water Pumps

Semarang Mayor Hevearita Gunaryanti Rahayu reviewed the implementation of flood prevention efforts in Semarang City, Tuesday (2/1/2024). (ANTARA/Zuhdiar Laiis)

Semarang - Mayor of Semarang Hevearita Gunaryanti Rahayu said that flood prevention efforts in the capital city of Central Java Province were still hampered by waste problems and damage to water pumps. While visiting the Tawang Mas and Madukoro Pump Houses, the Mayor saw piles of garbage ranging from Bojongsaman, Pusponjolo, Karangayu, to Semarang Indah. "There are a lot of piles of garbage in the waterways. Both problems are very classic, pump and garbage problems. Then, sedimentation. Sea water is high, running to the mainland. Because in the West Flood Canal area, the sediment is like land," he said while inspecting the pump house, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, January 2. While reviewing pump houses with several regional apparatus organizations, including the Head of the Suwarto Public Works Agency as well as sub-district and sub-district government officials, he asked the relevant agencies to immediately create a kind of garbage filter so that the flow of water would not be hampered. "If each has a screen, it will at least be able to filter the garbage in Tawang Mas (Pump House). Because at the time of the flood, the runoff from Semarang Indah piled up because the garbage was hampered, and that included market waste," he said. Mayor of Hevearita, who is usually called Ita, also asked residents not to litter, especially in the river, because it would hinder the flow of water and cause flooding. In addition to the waste problem, he said, flood prevention efforts were also hampered by damage to water pump equipment. The mayor found damage to the water pump at the Tawang Mas Pump House. The water pump at the pump house could not be used because the driving panel was damaged. "There was damage to a panel to move it. One panel of information will come from the DPU from Germany. On January 10, it will come. Then second, additional pump capacity," he said. "Because there should be five pumps there, now there are three (pumps)," he added. Ita said that one water pump costs around Rp. 12 billion. The city government is trying to procure one water pump this year.

The Madukoro Pump House, he said, also still requires two portable pumps to help draw water from the Semarang Indah and Puri Anjasmoro areas.