News Air

Bajo floating village faces clean water crisis

Jakarta Post

3 menit membaca Nov. 11, 2013

Residents of the Bajo floating village in Torosiaje, Popayato district, in Pohuwato regency, Gorontalo province, have suffered from a prolonged clean-water shortage, which has had a negative-financial effect on residents.

Local community leader Umar Passandre said two drums of clean water cost Rp 20,000 (US$1.75), however, the lion’s share of that sum covered the rental fee for the boat that carried the water.

“A drum of potable water actually costs Rp 5,000, but the price surges if you charter a boat,” Umar told The Jakarta Post by phone recently.

Two drums of water supports a household’s needs for two days.

Residents from Torosiaje and Torosiaje Jaya — better known as Torosiaje Darat, located some 600 meters from the floating village — depend on the water supplied by the local tap-water company (PDAM), especially for drinking.

However, Umar said, over the past three months PDAM’s water volume had decreased due to the huge number of customers it served.

Residents of the floating village, around 1,400 people, depend on the Popayato and Dudewulo river deltas for bathing and washing, thus, the clean water is a huge expense for them.

The river water, according to Umar, was not suitable for drinking and the local administration had built a pipeline to channel clean water to Torosiaje village, which is located some eight hours from Gorontalo city, in 2006. Unfortunately, the tap water was only supplied for a year before it completely stopped.

To conserve water, local residents use seawater for bathing and washing before rinsing with clean water.

“We regard the rainy season as a blessing for us, as we save the rain water for our bathing and washing needs,” said Umar.

He added the peak of the water crisis this year was experienced during Idul Adha, the day of sacrifice, as many residents could not perform the mass prayer due to a shortage of water, which is needed to wash before the prayers.

Umar added that the local administration had dispatched a 4,000-liter water-tank truck, but he deemed it insufficient.

Ideally, he said, the floating village needed at least 12,000 liters of water, adding that “4,000 liters of water is barely enough to meet the needs of 30 households.”

Separately, Djufryhard, a conservationist from Gorontalo, pointed toward the irony of the clean water crisis in Torosiaje as the floating village had, for a long time, been promoted by the local administration as a tourism destination.

“The floating village of the Bajo ethnic community is even known overseas due to its unique lifestyle but the Gorontalo provincial administration has never seriously provided facilities and infrastructure for the community,” said Djufryhard, who had provided assistance to the village along with Jaring, an environmental organization in advocacy and natural resource management..

He added that the water crisis was also attributed to the “friendly” attitude of the local administration toward oil palm investors, without considering the effect the “friendship” had on the local ecosystem.

“Oil palm plantations in Pohuwato regency, which absorb a huge amount of water, will gradually have an impact on the water supply in the surrounding villages, including the Torosiaje floating village,” said Djufryhard, who is currently an activist for Telapak, a national environmental group.

Meanwhile, Pohuwato Regent Syarief Mbuinga, who was performing the haj pilgrimage when contacted by the Post, said in a text message that his staff would investigate the water crisis.