Not Only Jakarta, Samarinda Also Gets Flood Shipments From Other Areas

Mayor of Samarinda Andi Harun. (photo; doc. between)

JAKARTA – It's not only Jakarta that is used to receiving flood shipments from other areas. Samarinda is the same. This was explained by the Mayor of Samarinda, Andi Harun. He said that the flooding in his area was not only purely the result of water runoff when it rained, but also shipments from the next door neighbor, Muara Badak District, Kutai Kartanegara Regency (Kukar).

"Not all of the flood contributors in Samarinda were purely from Samarinda, but also from Badak Mekar and Sungai Bawang villages, Muara Badak sub-district, Kukar district, which are located higher up," Andi Harun said while planting trees on the Karang Mumus River (SKM) Samarinda border, Saturday. .

When it rains heavily in the upstream area, the water from Badak Mekar overflows and goes down the Bawang River, then enters Samarinda through the Pampang Cultural Village and SKM, so that the Pampang area is also flooded, even though it has never been flooded deeply in Pampang.

For that, he thanked the Kalimantan IV Samarinda River Basin Center (BWS) for successfully normalizing the river in the Bawang River, so that the flow of water in the area became smooth into SKM Samarinda.

"On the other hand, due to the normalization of the Bawang River, the flow of water becomes fast, so this has an impact on a number of areas in Samarinda that are flooded, starting from the flood in Pampang which is quite deep, the water continues to fall all the way to Bengkuring Housing to Griya Mukti Housing. " said Andi Harun.

This condition makes the Samarinda City Government have to think extra about dealing with the flood problem, one of which is due to the overflow of water in the SKM, so a number of areas on the edge of the SKM must be plastered or concreted so as not to flood the lower plains, when the SKM is installed.

Areas that are lower than river water at high tide include some on Jalan Dr. Soetomo, Bengkuring Housing, and Griya Mukti Housing.

Andi Harun stated that the Samarinda City Government would build a retention pond in the Pampang area. The retention pond will accommodate water from the river when the discharge is maximum, whereas if the river water discharge returns to normal, it will slowly flow into the river.

"Meanwhile, for areas where the land is lower than rivers, anointing will be carried out. But for safe areas, the SKM border is still left natural, as environmentalists want," he said.