0 Joko Sets Target to Build 100,000 Infiltration Wells

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo said on Thursday that he had set a target to build 100,000 infiltration wells in Jakarta's five municipalities over the next five years, in a bid to alleviate the city's flooding problems. “With many infiltration wells, hopefully some of the water can be infiltrated to the ground so it can increase the groundwater reserve,” Joko said. “The rainwater could be diverted to the infiltration wells to recede the flooding in Jakarta.” 

Joko had previously planned to build only 10,000 wells but after the intense flooding in Jakarta last week left 20 people dead, the governor decided to boost the number of wells to be placed in residential areas, business districts, market areas, industrial regions, and other public facilities. Joko said he would force all owner of buildings in Jakarta to build infiltration wells, adding that he would shut down any buildings who did not comply with the regulation. “I will audit all existing buildings,” he said. 

“Buildings that don't have infiltration wells should make it. The existence of infiltration wells is urgent in Jakarta.” Joko said that he had already built nine wells with a four-meter diameter in his office. “I just want to serve as the best example,” he said. “That's why I started to build infiltration wells in my office. Afterwards, I will force all to make infiltration wells too.” A geologist at Surabaya's Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Amien Widodo, said the Jakarta government should address the main factors that caused the floods — sedimentation and waste. 

He told Antaranews.com that the sedimentation was caused by changes in the land use in the water catchment areas of Puncak and Gunung Pangrango in West Java. “The other problem is [that] many people living in the river bank cause narrowing rivers,” Amien said as quoted by Antaranews.com.

source : the jakarta globe