Farmers In Surabaya Disappointed, Instead Of Helping Pump Houses, They Flood Rice Fields

The aquaculture area on Jalan Raya Medayu Utara, Medokan Ayu Village, Rungkut District, Surabaya City/Photo: Antara

SURABAYA - Pond farmers have complained about the construction of a pump house in the east Bozem Wonorejo, Surabaya City, East Java which adds to the problem of flooding, especially ponds owned by local residents. the water pump in the east of the bozem (water reservoir) in Wonorejo is always flooded, especially the ponds owned by the Medokan Ayu residents. Nawawi, who is also the Chairperson of the Medokan Ayu Village Community Resilience Institution (LKMK), Surabaya. According to him, the pond area on the west side of the water pump has never received sea water, because the water was blocked by the sluice gate. Ayu and Wonorejo Avur are pumped and flowed into the Jagir River. "That's the right solution, not by closing the main river. All ponds need sea water," he said. But in reality, he continued, some ponds have excess water and some lack water. In addition, according to Nawawi, another solution, on the east side of the sluice gate there must be normalization of waterways which have been dead. "Shallow is narrow, so it needs to be normalized, so that the water can be maximally evenly distributed to all of the ponds," he said as quoted by Antara.

Nawawi said that before the COVID-19 pandemic, many embankments had collapsed. "At that time, I had sent a letter to Mrs. Risma (Mayor of Surabaya at the time, Tri Rismaharini) along with all the photos and the losses of the farmers. I have attached all of them, but there has been no action at all from the city government," he said. Surabaya DPRD Development Sector Aning Rahmawati previously said that for decades the Medokan Ayu area had always been flooded, both during high tides and rain with high intensity and long duration or long duration with low intensity, and vice versa. It is not enough just to do it downstream of Avur, but upstream of Avur," he said. Aning explained that the 2022-2023 multi-year budget is needed for flood management at the upstream level in the form of construction of canals that lead to anchor parks or water reservoirs. downstream, he continued, currently the budget for carrying canals is still being calculated, which can solve problems between pond farmers and the Surabaya City Government Regarding the socio-economic aspects of the surrounding area. As for the flood management efforts that have been included in the 2022 Surabaya APBD, namely for the Tertiary Network Drainage System (SDJT) and the Settlement Environmental Drainage System (SDLP) in Medokan Ayu.