The Secret to Winning at New Dirty Water

The city of Batam is facing a water crisis: it is expected to run out of clean water by 2015 based on business and population expansion estimates. Batam – like 99.83% of Indonesia’s islands – has no groundwater basin and its impermeable soil structure mean only a small portion of rainfall infiltrates the ground. Moreover, small islands like Batam are characterized by narrow coastal areas and hills with steep topography, causing much surface runoff to be wasted into the sea. Hence, almost 100% of Batam’s raw water supply comes from rain-fed reservoirs.

However, rapid economic development on the island since the 1980s has taken a toll on the environment and the quality of raw water. As part of the Singapore-JohorRiau (SIJORI) Growth Triangle scheme, Batam was designated as Singapore’s provincial hinterland - it provided land and cheap labour for Singapore’s electronics manufacturing industry. Without proper law enforcement, protected areas within the watersheds of Batam’s reservoirs have become increasingly encroached upon by housing and industry. Not only has this led to a removal of forest cover, but the lack of proper waste management infrastructure also means household and industrial waste is discharged directly into water bodies. In addition, squatters – made up of low-income migrant workers – have also colonized the protected forests of reservoirs because the lack of affordable housing has squeezed them out of the formal housing sector. These intrusions reduce the amount of catchment area for rainfall and weaken the watershed’s ability to naturally cleanse itself. Consequently, the system is overloaded by pollution, causing some reservoirs in Batam to be highly contaminated. This eventually led to a fall in supply of drinking water and the proliferation of waterborne diseases amongst informal dwellers. To complicate matters, the problem of water pollution takes place against a backdrop of murky politics, backdoor deals and territorial disputes. Addressing the issue at hand calls for one to navigate difficult waters.