The Sinking City of Jakarta
Previously I covered drinking water crisis and water privatization failure in Jakarta. Formal water supply system has failed to deliver reliable service to the people. As a result, more and more people has shifted to individual groundwater well to get access to free freshwater. Unfortunately, the use of these wells was not well-regulated resulting in massive groundwater extraction by the city. The intensity of careless groundwater pumping in Jakarta is disastrously dangerous. People are digging deeper and deeper so that the ground is collapsing. Careless pumping of deep groundwater has created dry cavities causing layers of rock to crash on top of each other.
A child walk through the flood water in Jakarta (Reuters)
Yes, Jakarta is literally sinking. It has been reported as the "world's worst sinking city" (Tarrant 2014). Over the last three decades, Greater Jakarta plain has sunk by 4 meters. We may have heard a lot about sinking Venice from the news. However, if we look at the data carefully, the sinking rate of Venice is insignificant compared to Jakarta's. Venice is sinking for about 2 millimeters per year, while parts of Jakarta are sinking up to 20 centimeters per year. That is a factor of 100! Currently, about 40 percent of Jakarta lands are already below the sea level. A documentary by Journeyman Pictures below openly displays Jakarta, the sinking city, along with its calamitous social inequality.
Jakarta is Sinking (Journeyman Pictures)
The situation is becoming more and more alarming since Jakarta is also facing another threat from the sea water rise that add up to the complexity of the problem. Flooding has become an ordinary story in Jakarta. Currently, the city is planning to build a large seawall to save the city. The plan has been very controversial for a number of reasons. The total cost of the project is forecasted to be at least $40 billion. To pay for this huge amount of spending, 17 new artificial islands (through the bay reclamation) are included to the masterplan so that developers can buy these artificial islands to build luxurious houses and apartments, grand shopping malls and upscale Grade-A offices.
The $40 billion-plus Seawall and Jakarta Bay Reclamation project (National Geographic)
From environmental perspective, the Jakarta bay reclamation project will be an environmental disaster. It will cause serious damage to the maritime ecosystem and erode existing natural islands due to changing sea current. From social perspective, the development of these artificial islands will only benefit the elites. The development will also force the eviction of thousands of poor people along the shoreline including the fishermen. Furthermore, the huge budget of the project will likely to provoke corruption. It is also avoiding the root of the problem: groundwater extraction. The giant sea wall and artificial islands will not stop the sinking. The solution to stop the sinking is obvious. Massive extraction of groundwater by households, developer and industry should be stopped and formal water supply system should be improved. The time is running out. Government should act quickly to save the whole city (not to only to serve the rich).
References:
Berg, N 2012, 'Jakarta Is Sinking Itself Into the Ocean', Citylab, 26 April, <http://www.citylab.com/weather/2012/04/jakartas-sinking-itself-ocean/1857/>
Elyda, C 2015, 'Sea wall an environmental disaster: Study'. The Jakarta Post, 7 October, <http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/10/07/sea-wall-environmental-disaster-study.html>
Koch, W 2015, 'Could a Titanic Seawall Save This Quickly Sinking City?', National Geographic News, 10 December, <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/energy/2015/12/151210-could-titanic-seawall-save-this-quickly-sinking-city/>
Tarrant, B 2014, 'Special Report: In Jakarta, that sinking feeling is all too real'. Reuters, 22 December, <http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sealevel-subsidence-jakarta-sr-idUSKBN0K016S20141222>
