As we gear up to welcome a new year, Governor Fauzi Bowo carries several unfinished problems from 2009 with him, both above and below Jakarta’s surface.
Fauzi’s decision last month to convert 27 gas stations into green spaces, which will serve as water catchment areas, is a welcome gesture.
It is, however, not enough as Jakarta is increasingly burdened by the weight of development and a growing population.
Experts predict that Jakarta’s population will hit 30 million by 2020, placing considerable strain on infrastructure and quality of life.
To counter some of the man-made environmental degradation, the administration is likely to keep its spatial target for green spaces at 13.9 percent.
Regardless, the central government requires that Jakarta devote at least 30 percent of its 662.33 square kilometer area for open and green spaces.
Currently less than 10 percent of Jakarta qualifies as open and green space.
Jakarta’s problems, however, also exist below the surface.
While water catchment areas are rapidly decreasing, the city administration also has problems in relation to uncontrolled groundwater extraction.
Throughout the year, the Jakarta Environmental Agency has been working hard to monitor and seal illegal groundwater wells in the city. However, the agency says it is too difficult to monitor all offenders.
Another worrying problem is water contamination from increased sewage.
Jakarta may be the only metropolis that has an almost non-existent sewage system. Less than 1 percent, or 560 hectares of the total area of Jakarta is equipped with an efficient sewage system, according to the City Water Regulatory Board, while the rest simply dump their domestic waste into rivers.
“Jakarta is literally a megalopolis standing on a pile of doo-doo,” board member Firdaus Ali was quoted as saying in September.
The regulatory body said the city would need Rp 11 trillion (US$ 1.11 billion) or roughly half of its 2009 budget to build a proper sanitation system, according to the Water Regulatory Board.
The city only has one sewage treatment plant in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, and waste treatment facilities in Pulo Gebang, East Jakarta, and Duri Kosambi, West Jakarta.
The latest move to build a sanitation system was in 2002, when the city signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth $5.3 billion with an Australian company to develop a proper sanitation system.
Under the agreement, the company was to construct a deep tunnel sewerage system to treat all liquid waste in the capital.
Where should we start fixing the problem?
Civil engineering graduate Eva Komandjaja from the Technical University of Denmark said that for a large city like Jakarta, which has never had a proper drainage system, a good starting point might be building a combined sewer overflow (CSO).
In drainage terms, a CSO means both rainwater and household sewage water run through the same pipe, hence the “combined” part.
Eva said the advantage of this system was that it was relatively cheap to construct. This system however, spells trouble for a city that has a large annual rainfall such as Jakarta. The large amount of rainwater could overflow the system and would literally flood the streets.
“A separated system, on the other hand, is probably the best solution in long-term,” she said.
“However, it’s expensive and it takes a lot of work to build as two different pipes must be laid on top of each other — one for rainwater, which does not require further treatment and can be piped directly to open water bodies and the other for sewage water leading to wastewater treatment plant.” she said.
Eva said the important choice was in the hands of the city administration.
Source: Prodita Sabarini , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 12/23/2009
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