City aims to build 5m biopores this year

Triwik Kurniasari, THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA | Wed, 04/01/2009 11:37 AM

The city administration has set a target of creating 5 million biopores this year in five municipalities across the city in an effort to improve water retention and therefore ease the ongoing water crisis.

The City Environmental Board (BPLHD) said that the city only had 335,590 biopores, far below the recommended 76 million.

BPLHD head Peni Susanti said that the board would require developers to build the biopores in a bid to meet the target.

“The bylaw rules that every building, including malls and hotels, must have absorption wells or biopores,” Peni said, referring to the 2005 bylaw on groundwater.

She said her office was cooperating with the City Building Supervision Agency (P2B) to ensure that developers applying for building permits abide by the regulations.

“We also encourage Jakarta residents to make biopores at their homes,” Peni said.

She said that the biopores could help retain rainwater longer in the soil and therefore maintain the equilibrium of the groundwater table.

The biopore technology was introduced by a lecturer at the Bogor Agriculture Institute (IPB), Kamir Raziudin Brata, in 1976. Biopores are made with a T-shaped iron bore to create a 1-meter-deep hole in the ground with a diameter of between 10 and 30 centimeters. The hole, also containing organic waste, absorbs more rainwater and therefore allows insects and worms to live. Firdaus Ali, an environmental expert at the University of Indonesia, said biopores were not the only way to solve the city’s problem.

“Jakarta is experiencing a serious water crisis due to the massive exploitation of groundwater. Therefore, I fully support the administration’s plan to raise the ground water tax,” Firdaus said. Earlier in March, the administration announced that it would draft a bylaw to increase ground water tax in a bid to prevent exploitation and land subsidence.

The BPLHD reported that groundwater exploitation had caused land to sink about 1.2 meters. The construction of high-rise buildings also speeds up land subsidence.

The tax in wealthy residential areas will increase from Rp 525 per cubic meter to Rp 3,300, and from Rp 8,800 to Rp 23,000 in industrial areas.

“The administration can use the money to develop more sophisticated technology for water absorption... It should also impose stricter sanctions on violators,” Firdaus said.

Besides biopores, the administration has been working with the IPB in developing bio-retention technology. This method uses the chemical, biological and physical properties of plants, microbes and soils, to slow rainwater runoff and retain water.

In addition, the BPLHD reported that as of December 2008, the administration had built more than 83,000 absorption wells capable of retaining 1,154,000 cubic meters of water.

Households may have to store rainwater

Adianto P. Simamora, THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA | Mon, 02/09/2009 9:10 AM

Homeowners and commercial building owners across the country will be required to build facilities to store rainwater, in a bid to prevent repeated floods and water scarcity.

A draft decree to be issued this week by State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar says all households and building owners must collect rainwater and channel it underground, starting this year.

“By doing so, we can reduce flooding in the country by up to 40 percent. The rainwater will also be a source to recharge groundwater in the event of drought,” said Masnellyarti Hilman, deputy director for nature conservation enhancement and environment degradation control at the ministry.

When signed, the decree will give households and commercial building operators who have not built rainwater catchment facilities one year to comply with the regulation.

The decree, however, stipulates no punitive measures against offenders, but Masnellyarti said a failure to heed the decree was subject to punishment, according to the 1997 environment law.

The draft stipulates three alternatives to collect rainwater, namely rainwater runoff pools, catchment basins and biopore cylinders.

A house built on land measuring up to 21 square meters must have at least three biopore cylinder units with a diameter of 10 centimeters and a maximum depth of 1 meter each.

“This is the simplest and cheapest way to collect rainwater. A biopore cylinder costs less than Rp 200,000 [US$17.39],” she said.

The cylinder can be planted either in the garden or parking area.

Commercial building operators can build rainwater runoff pools or catchment basins based on the rainfall rate, type of soil and aquifer where the building are situated.

A commercial building standing on 50 square meters or more of land, with groundwater levels less than a meter deep, must have a rainwater runoff pools measuring 1.5 cubic meters, which can be placed underground or above ground.

The rainwater would be channeled to the catchment pool through a pipe.

For buildings where the roof covers less than 26 square meters and with groundwater levels above 50 centimeters, catchment basins must be set up at least 10 meters from the septic tank.

Pits expected to bring back clean water

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 03/12/2008 11:48 AM

The Jakarta Mining Agency has kicked off a campaign to promote the construction of percolation pits throughout Jakarta in a bid to conserve the city's clean water.

Governor Fauzi Bowo said at Tuesday's campaign launch the construction of pits is expected to help resolve the city's clean water shortages.

"The target is to have more than 220,000 pits in the city. It won't be an easy job and I doubt it will be achieved during my five-year term," Fauzi said, adding there are currently around 38,000 percolation pits in the city.

The campaign, dubbed "Let's save Jakarta's underground water", is supported by the School of Engineering at the University of Indonesia and several large national companies, which have already built percolation pits in their compounds.

Most of the city's houses and buildings pump underground water for their daily use. The extensive underground water extraction has led to clean water shortages during the dry season and land subsidence, resulting in more areas being flooded each year.

The city's land surfaces have sunk an average of 1.2 meters during the past 25 years.

Underground water is quickly replaced by seawater. According to a city agency report, salt water intrusion has reached as far as 15 kilometers inland.

Hari Sasongko, head of the Property Management and Control Agency, said for a percolation pit to harvest water efficiently, one square meter hole is required for every 25 square meters of covered land surface.

Pits must reach the land's sand layer, usually between 4 and 8 meters down, to allow the water to be absorbed quickly.

Hari said it had been compulsory since 2001 for all new constructions in the city to include percolation pits.

"For those buildings constructed before 2001, the owners will be required to build a pit as part of their building use permission renewal," he said.

The city will also prohibit developers from dewatering the land in tall building developments. Dewatering is a procedure for drying out land by pumping out underground water, generally used in developments with basements.

The campaign introduces the "5 Rs guide to saving underground water". The "5 Rs" are Reducing water use, Reusing water for other needs such as watering plants, Recycling polluted water, Recharging the land using percolation pits and biopore holes, and Recovering damaged water catchment areas. (dre)

Administration tells residents to dig in

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration has requested the public dig one million biopores around homes and office buildings, to help the city combat floods.

Head of Jakarta's Environmental Management Agency, Budirama Natakusumah, told reporters Wednesday the city administration would launch a biopore program Saturday at Soemantri Brojonegoro youth center in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

A biopore is an organic waste disposal system which serves the dual purpose of allowing water to seep into the ground more easily.

They can be made simply using a specially designed hand-operated iron bore which drills into the ground, and creates a 1 meter-deep hole with a diameter of between 10 and 30 centimeters.

The hole can be used to dispose of organic waste such as leftover chicken bones, rotten vegetables or fallen leaves.

The buried waste attracts ants, worms and a variety of underground fauna which turn the garbage into compost. Animals may also create tunnels to access the waste which in turn allows rainwater to be absorbed into groundwater more easily.

"This is society's best tool to help the city combat flooding," Budirama said.

"The holes are very easy to make since one tool can be shared by hundreds of households," he said, adding that the tools would be distributed to some 200 community unit chiefs during Saturday's event.

The event will involve several non-government organizations and university students who will assist local communities to make and maintain the biopores.

The technique was first made public by Kamir Brata, a researcher from Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), last year and has been applied in Bogor.

On April 22, Bogor city administration ordered the digging of 5,250 biopore holes in 21 of its sub-districts.

As of June, the city had dug more then 22,000 holes.

Kamir has been promoting the technology to Jakarta since.

"The problem with Jakarta's flood mitigation technology is that they are still separating water containment and waste disposal. These two areas are closely related and need to be addressed simultaneously," he said.

He claims to have introduced the technique to Jakarta officials around a year ago, but said he kept getting snubbed.

"I guess they thought the technology was too simple," he told The Jakarta Post in a separate interview.

"But it's good they're adopting it now, they are finally coming around," he said.

Budirama said the city also wants to build absorption wells under the city's flood prone streets but was waiting for the Jakarta Public Works Agency to release a concrete plan. (anw)

Tougher drain laws to tackle city floods

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration plans to give heavier sanctions for buildings that do not have adequate rain water drainage -- also known as water harvest -- installations in place, a city official said in a meeting set by the State Ministry of Environment Monday.

The meeting saw officials from the Greater Jakarta Meteorological and Geophysics body and State Ministry of Environment discuss their plans to mitigate flooding.

Ep Fitratunnisa, head of the Natural Resources Utilization division of Jakarta's Environment Management Board, said a 2005 bylaw on water harvest was "inadequate" and would be revised to include penalties and other measures necessary to ensure compliance by businesses.

"We are still working on the details of the revision, but several businesses and parties have asked for clearer rules on water harvest installations, so this is in our agenda."

Bylaw 68 stipulates that developments larger than 5,000 square meters must include a water absorption area of no less than one percent of the total area.

There are at least 12 types of pits that can be used as water harvest installations. The city has urged residents to consider a biopore system and water absorption wells.

The biopore system utilizes a hand-operated drill to make a hole 100 centimeters deep and 30 centimeters wide which is filled with compost to increase absorption.

Water absorption wells are more involved: small pipes are connected to a 1-meter-wide, 1.5-meter-deep well which should be located near a drainpipe and equipped with sedimentation rocks so rainwater can pour directly into the well, instead of pooling on the ground. Such wells cost around Rp 1 million (Around US $110).

"These wells not only absorb water, they also reduce litter in rivers and roads.

Water harvest installations are gaining popularity as short-term solutions to mitigate flooding, a major problem in the city. Floods in 2002 and 2007 were the worst in memory, costing trillions in damages.

According to Dindin Wahidin, speaker from the State Ministry of Environment, part of the blame also goes to bad city planning and the lack of designated green zones and water catchment sites. Green zones in Jakarta account for only nine percent of the city's total area, much less than the minimum 30 percent required by the Home Affairs Ministry.

Water management expert Fatchy Mohammad, also in the meeting, said it would take one million biopores to make a substantial change in flooding.

Depok is currently intensifying the cleaning of artificial lakes while Bekasi had budgeted Rp 250 million for a water absorption well project. Bogor, often blamed for flash floods, had no new plans. (anw)

City promotes water-harvest installations

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In an effort to avert floods, Jakarta's Environment Management Board has asked university students and companies to help residents make percolation pits and biopore absorption holes to harvest rainwater.

The board's head of environmental damage control Daniel Abbas told The Jakarta Post over the weekend this household intervention could help compensate for water catchment areas being lost to new homes, offices and apartments.

The environmental board hopes 4,000 people -- students and more than 24 companies -- will join the program, which will be launched by Governor Fauzi Bowo at the Sumantri Bojonegoro Stadium, South Jakarta on Dec. 8.

"We are asking the universities to let students assist in the installation of household percolation pits or biopore holes, while companies can use their CSR budgets to help with the financing," said Daniel.

There are at least 12 different types of percolation pits for draining rainwater. The cheapest and simplest is a 100-centimeter deep, 10-centimeter wide hole filled with compost. As worms, insects and fungi work together to decompose the waste, they create pore spaces, allowing rainwater to seep more quickly into the aquifer.

Daniel said residents could choose between percolation pits and biopore absorption holes depending on their budget and the height of the local water table.

"A percolation pit with a capacity of one cubic meter costs around Rp 1 million while creating a biopore hole requires only a drilling tool."

A biopore absorption hole can be as simple as a hole with a diameter of 10 centimeters and depth of 30 centimeters filled with organic waste.

As percolation pits are deeper than biopores they are suitable only in areas not located below sea level.

"Residents in North Jakarta will not be able to build percolation pits because the water level in the area comes within a half meter of the surface," said Daniel.

He suggested that universities make the program a part of the community service curriculum, which is mandatory in most schools.

"Students can transfer knowledge (of the conservation technique to the general public) while getting credit for the program," he said, adding that several universities including University of Indonesia and Trisakti University had confirmed their involvement.

The water-harvesting effort could be fast-tracked, said Daniel, if university students and companies got behind the 10-year program that covers five municipalities.

Water-harvesting is mandated under a 2002 ordinance requiring all building owners, regardless of building size, to set up percolation pits or biopore holes.

However, the environmental board said, so far, there are only about 100,000 pits, while the target is some 2 million pits. (lln)

Old meets new in biopore campaign

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It's an old technique often used in Indonesia's rural areas, but the campaign for backyard biopore absorption holes (biopores) was heard for the first time in Jakarta on Saturday.

Enthusiasm ran high as experts from the Agricultural Institute of Bogor (IPB) and Erhalogy, a cosmetic brand, talked to Setu Babakan residents in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta.

The household technique, combining waste and water management, involves drilling a hole no bigger than 30 centimeters wide and 100 centimeters deep as an organic waste bin that also increases groundwater absorption.

"The old technique takes on new meaning as it can be used to mitigate flooding and take care of our waste problem," said Kamir R. Brata, professor from the landscape architecture department at IPB, who coordinates the campaign.

In Indonesia, the compost sinks began to receive more attention after February's flood which took numerous lives and caused losses of trillions of rupiah.

In April, the Bogor administration ordered more than 5,000 biopores sunk in 21 subdistricts.

As of June, Bogor had finished more then 22,000 holes. Kamir wants to expand the program to surrounding areas, including Jakarta.

According to Kamir, Jakarta planners have ignored the environment, preventing nature's underground network of roots, insects, worms and rodents from living up to potential.

Biopores return natural function to the ground when organic waste is composted, because insects and worms thrive, multiplying tiny passageways in the soil which absorb water.

"God has already given us the workers to keep floods away, now our duty is to make sure these workers don't leave."

The hole is made with a T-shaped hand drill which rotates clockwise. After the hole is made and tidied up, an effective microorganism (EM) solution is added to speed up decomposition.

All of the tools can be ordered from the landscape architecture department at IPB.

The ideal number of holes depends on the intensity of rains in the area. Adequate, however, explained Kamir, is for five small households sharing one drill to sink 25 holes in the immediate vicinity of their homes.

Dimiati, a corn farmer and producer, is among those who are not yet satisfied with the waste solution. While the holes may be able to deal with household waste, he said, he doesn't think they can handle industrial byproduct, which accumulates tons at time.

"I still don't see it as the solution to the waste problem," he said.

IPB and Erhalogy gave the four neighborhood units in Setu Babakan -- comprising 120 households -- 24 iron drills, 120 waste containers, eight drums of EM solution and ready-to-use EM and EM starter kits.

The donors plan to spend four months making sure the tools are used properly and the biopores maintained properly.

"The company is just concerned about the environment. The way we see it, the surface of the earth is like skin -- it needs pores to stay healthy, so we believe this idea is an innovative way to promote our brand," Erhalogy marketing manager Djoko Kurniawan said.

More information can be found at Biopori.com. (anw)