Anies' Subordinates Explain Why DKI Jakarta Has Not Banned The Use Of Groundwater Until Now

Meeting with the Head of Water Resources Department Yusmada Faizal with Commission D of the DPRD DKI (Diah Ayu Wardani/VOI)

JAKARTA - Jakarta is predicted to sink in the next ten years. Several parties are pressing for a ban on groundwater extraction. However, Yusmada Faizal, Head of the Water Resources Department, explained the reason why the DKI Provincial Government has not issued a regulation prohibiting groundwater extraction.

In a meeting with Commission D of the DKI Regional House of Representatives, Yusmada explained that currently, the clean water piping system in Jakarta has not yet reached all areas. Thus, if groundwater extraction is prohibited, it will lead to water scarcity.

"The coverage of our piped water supply is only 64 percent. It would be inappropriate if we banned groundwater", said Yusmada at the DKI Regional House of Representatives Building, Central Jakarta, Tuesday, October 5.

However, to limit large-scale extraction of groundwater, especially for commercial use, the DKI Provincial Government uses a groundwater tax mechanism.

This is regulated in Regional Regulation Number 10 of 1998 concerning Implementation and Tax on Utilization of Groundwater and Surface Water.

"It has been regulated in Regional Regulation Number 10 of 1998, controlling groundwater with a groundwater tax mechanism. It is within our framework to control groundwater, especially commercial deep groundwater", Yusmada explained.

In addition, the DKI Provincial Government is also preparing regulations governing groundwater-free zones. This zone is defined as an area that is already covered by piping services.

"The areas that have been serviced by pipelines are obligatory for us to ban groundwater. Groundwater-free zones are being prepared by the governor's regulation", he said.

For information, the prediction of the Jakarta sinking was once put forward by the President of the United States, Joe Biden. Biden said one of the impacts of climate change is sea-level rise.

He projects that if sea levels rise by 2.5 feet or 7.6 cm, millions of people in the world will have to flee their homes.

If the projection is correct, then Indonesia will have to pay a heavy price by immediately moving to the capital city of Jakarta. Because Jakarta is the capital city that is most at risk of sinking in the next 20 years.

"What happens in Indonesia if the projections are correct that, in the next 10 years, they may have to move the capital because they will be underwater? That's important. It's a strategic question as well as an environmental question", Biden said in a speech at the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence, July 27.