Massive developments in Bali have had a
serious negative impact on the island’s water resources, which are now
running short in many places, an expert stated. I Nyoman Sunarta, a
hydrologist and senior researcher at Udayana University’s Center for
Environmental Education, shared with Bali Daily last weekend that a
number of strategic policies had to be implemented immediately to
protect the island’s critical water supplies. “Water supplies during the
rainy season are abundant, but during droughts, in some parts of Bali
water is scarce. Therefore, we need smart and sustainable strategies to
manage our precious water resources,” he said.
Planning, developing, distributing and
managing the optimum use of the island’s water resources were needed to
allocate water on an equitable and sustainable basis, he added.
Reforestation and re-greening programs in the upstream water catchment
areas would be one of the most important strategies. “Our forests have
been diminishing due to illegal logging, as well as the development of
concrete structures for tourist facilities,” he said. Sunarta elaborated
that Bali had been facing a water deficit for the last few years due to
a variety of reasons, such as long dry seasons, large-scale and
uncontrolled development programs, inefficient water management and
other man made and natural causes.
The island’s water supplies were
influenced by three factors — rainfall, water flow and area. Bali
currently has only 4.7 billion cubic meters of water available every
year, while the real annual demand for water reached 5.4 billion cubic
meters. It is estimated that Bali’s water deficit will reach 27 billion
cubic meters by 2015, and the island is predicted to suffer from a
serious water crisis. Meanwhile, forested areas, with their important
water catchment function, have been falling significantly for years. It
is estimated that 23,000 hectares, or 18 percent, of the island’s
130,000 hectares of forest reserves are in critical condition and need
prompt rehabilitation.
The forests are being converted into
plantations and residential areas. Ongoing tree cutting and illegal
logging has also worsened the remaining forests’ condition. The
provincial administration claimed that it had rehabilitated 13,000
hectares of the damaged forest. Wayan Darma, head of Bali Forestry
Office’s land rehabilitation and community forest department, said that
9,000 hectares of forest in Buleleng regency and 5,500 hectares of
forest in Karangasem had been damaged due to forest fires, landslides
and illegal logging. “Topographically, Bali consists of mountainous and
hilly land. Forests are important to prevent the land from eroding and
flooding,” Darma said.
Darma also added that several areas in
Bali, such as the Mount Batur area in Bangli, and Mt Agung and Mt Abang
in Kintamani, were in critical condition due to damaged forests with the
reduced ability to protect the area from various natural and manmade
disasters. The forests in those areas are the island’s major water
catchments. Jembrana in West Bali and Buleleng in North Bali have 62
percent of the total forests in Bali. In addition to the declining
amount of forest, Bali is also facing other land problems. Klungkung
regency, for instance, has 13,800 hectares of critical dry and arid
land, while Karangasem regency has 10,600 hectares of land in poor
condition.
Badung regency, in the south, also has
500 hectares of drought-prone area in Jimbaran. Sunarta said that Bali
had already been applying sustainable water management systems for
centuries, but these traditional ways were being abandoned. Among the
sustainable water management systems are the subak agricultural system,
as well as rituals to worship water and plants. “Those traditional
rituals and agricultural systems are still relevant to modern lives, but
many people tend to ignore them, leaving Bali in the hands of
investors,” he said. “Bali has the traditional wisdom to preserve its
precious water resources, we have to continue paying respect to our own
cultural traditions to protect our water,” he declared.
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