Issue Groundwater Rules, Ministry Of Energy And Mineral Resources Highlights Use By Rich People

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) issued the Decree of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Number 291.K/GL.01/MEM.G/2023 concerning the Standard for Implementing Approval for Groundwater Use. Controlling the use of groundwater is a regulation aimed at ensuring that groundwater can be used continuously for various purposes.

Acting (Plt) Head of the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Muhammad Wafid said, based on Law no. 17 of 2019, basically the use of groundwater to meet basic daily needs and people's agriculture does not require a permit (agreement for the use of ground water).

However, if the fulfillment of basic daily needs by taking more than 100 (one hundred) cubic meters per month of groundwater, then approval is needed for the use of groundwater.

Wafid also highlighted groundwater consumption in rich people who have swimming pools or are indicated to use groundwater of more than 100 cubic meters in a month.

"If we try to compare around if there is a swimming pool for rich people, how many times does he replace the water in the pool? What needs? Maybe more than 100 cubic meters," Wafid said at a press conference on Groundwater Control at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Building, Monday, November 13.

For information, in the Standard Regulation for the Implementation of Approval for Groundwater Use, it is stated that a request for approval for the use of groundwater is carried out for daily basic needs if the use of ground water is at least 100 cubic meters per month per head of the family or is used in groups with the provisions of more than 100 cubic meters per month per group. Meanwhile, the use of water for a home pool is a secondary need.

For this reason, said Wafid, the Ministerial Decree has more impact on the rich, whose use of water exceeds 100 cubic meters per month. Moreover, he said, the water source used for the pool water was taken from the same source with the lower middle class.

"People who have wealth who use ponds that need approval because they take from the same location as the wider community use them every day," concluded Wafid.