Water Resources Management

Multipurpose Water Resources Management by a Public Corporation in the Citarum River Basin: A Case Study of Indonesia

Ir. Sri Hernowo Masjhudi
Jasa Tirta II Public Corporation
Indonesia

Abstract

Integrated Water Resources Development on the North Plain of West Java Province in Indonesia has been under way since 1957 when Ir. H. Djuanda, the late Prime Minister of Indonesia, declared the implementation of the Jatiluhur Multipurpose Project. The main aim of the project is to enhance rice production by constructing a dam across the Citarum River. The reservoir behind the dam has a capacity of 3 billion m3. The hydroelectric power plant installed in the dam has a capacity of 150 MW. The project also developed an irrigation system for 240,000 ha of paddy field making possible two crops per year. There are nine rivers traversing the plain from South to North. The Citarum is the largest and connects to four rivers to the west through the West Tarum Canal and four rivers to the east through the East Tarum Canal. Together, these rivers form an integrated hydrological boundary known as the Citarum River Basin.

The total area of the basin is about 12,000 km2 covering 11 administrative Districts. The average flow of water in the basin is about 12.95 billion m3 per year. Upon the completion of the project the Government established the Jatiluhur Authority Public Corporation (1970). Its tasks and responsibilities are to maintain the sustainability of water resources and to extend operation and maintenance of water resources infrastructures and the hydroelectric power plants. The entity is also in charge of collecting contributions from the beneficiaries of water services to finance operations and maintenance of the system. In 1999, the name was changed to the Jasa Tirta II Public Corporation.

In the last decade, the Government of Indonesia extended decentralization of power and responsibility to District Governments based on Law No. 22, 1999. The Districts are responsible for managing natural resources within their administrative boundaries. Since the source of water in the basin comes from many districts, conflicts occur over who should be responsible for managing the water resources in the basin, the Central Government represented by Jasa Tirta II or the District Governments.

Introduction

After the Proclamation of Independence (1945) the Government of the Republic of Indonesia extended its program of self-supporting rice production and poverty alleviation. The Indonesian archipelago has two seasons per year, a rainy season (October to March) and a dry season (April to September).

The population is about 60 million with more than half living on the island of Java. Java is a fertile island with many active volcanoes. Average annual precipitation is 3,000 mm. Normally, 70% of this falls during the wet season. Relative humidity is about 80% and the daily temperature is, on average, 25o C in the lowlands and 18o C in the mountainous areas.

Large-scale water resources developments were constructed on the North Plain of West Java Province during the Dutch Colonial era. One is the Walahar Irrigation System built in 1925 for 80,000 ha of paddy field by constructing a gated weir across the Citarum River in Karawang District about 60 km from its estuary. Another is the Salamdarma Irrigation System (1930) for 37,000 ha of paddy field created by constructing a weir across the Cipunegara River in Subang District about 40 km from its estuary. The systems are separate from each other and rely on run-off water in the rivers. Cropping intensity is only achieved up to 130%. Not all areas can be irrigated during the dry season and it often happens the farmers are in conflict over water.

In 1956, Ir. H. Djuanda, the late Prime Minister of Indonesia, declared the commencement of the Jatiluhur Multipurpose Project. The main aim of the project was to enhance rice production to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production. The project comprised two major activities. The first was to construct a rock-fill type dam across the Citarum River and a reservoir behind the dam with an impound capacity of 3.0 billion m3 and a hydroelectric power plant with installed capacity of 150 MW. The second was to develop an irrigation system over an area of 240,000 ha of paddy field on the North Plain of West Java Province connected to the Walahar and Salamdarma irrigation systems for two crops per year as an integrated irrigation area. The project was finished in 1967.

There are nine rivers traversing the area from mountain ranges in the south to the north and which terminate in the Java Sea. The Citarum River is the largest and connects with four rivers to the west and four to the east through man-made canals.

The benefits of the project include: (1) floods are minimized, (2) people can cultivate two rice crops per year, (3) raw water is available for domestic, municipal and industrial use, (4) the hydropower plant has an installed capacity of 150 MW, (5) there is freshwater and brackish water fisheries development in coastal areas, and (6) there is beautiful scenery surrounding the reservoir for tourism and recreation.

In 1970, the Government established Jatiluhur Authority Public Corporation with responsibility to maintain sustainability of water resources in the basin and extend operation and maintenance of water resources infrastructures and the hydroelectric power plant. Besides, the entity has to collect contributions from the beneficiaries of water services for running the operation and maintenance of the system. The Jatiluhur “Authority” in fact is just a call name, but since the entity’s working area is mostly within West Java Province some local people feel there is another “government” in the Province. Therefore in 1999 the name of the entity was changed to Jasa Tirta II Public Corporation.

Later, two other dams were built in Citarum River upstream of Ir. H. Djuanda dam, the Saguling (1984) and Cirata (1988). The main aim of the dams is for power generation with installed capacity of 700 MW and 1,000 MW respectively. The impounding capacity of Saguling and Cirata reservoirs are 900 million m3 and 1,200 million m3. The dams were constructed by The State Electric Company and recently operation and maintenance extended to the Indonesia Power Company and PJB Company respectively, they are a subsidiary of the State Electricity Company.

Water Resources Potential

Citarum River basin covers an area of about 12,000 km2 with an average annual flow of 12.95 billion m3, out of which 6.0 billion m3 flows in Citarum River and 6.95 billion m3 flows in the other rivers in the basin. By employing water resources infrastructures the water that can be regulated is about 7.65 billion m3 per annum and the rest flows to the sea. The biggest use of water by far goes to irrigation (6.0 billion m3 equal to 88%) and the rest to domestic, municipal and industrial use ( 800 million m3 equal to 12%).

Parallel to the national economic development the water requirement especially for DMI is increasing. It is predicted that the regulated water in the basin is only able to cope with the demand up to the year 2015. Therefore measures have to be taken to fulfill the demands of water beyond 2015 by constructing dams in the basin. Besides, improving efficiency of water use especially water for irrigation which is almost 90% of the total use of water in the basin.

The basin covers 11 Districts in West Java Province, however the water is not only used by the Districts but also across provincial boundaries discharged to Jakarta the capital city of Indonesia. Jakarta is much dependant on the water from Citarum Basin, so far 80% of raw water for domestic and municipal use in the city comes from the basin.

Water Management

Based on Law No. 11 of 1974 concerning Water Resources and Government Regulation (GR) No. 22 of 1981, the priority rankings of water use are as follows: first is for domestic and municipal use, second is for agriculture including fisheries, third is for industries, and the last is for power generation. In order to be distributed equally to beneficiaries the Government established Water Resources Management Committees at the provincial level and Water Resources Management Implementation Committees at the basin level. The members of the committees are representatives of government institutions, private sectors, Non Government Organizations, universities, professionals and representatives of farmer associations.

Irrigation makes the biggest demand for water - about 90% of the total demand for two crops per year. The first crop is planted in early October or in the beginning of rainy season and the second crop in early April. The Committee holds a meeting at least twice a year, once every August for preparing the annual water supply program considering the availability of water in the reservoirs and prospective weather in the coming year, the second every April for evaluation of the implementation program and/or analysis of the continuation of the program or preparing program modifications if necessary.

According to the Note for Jatiluhur (Ir. H. Djuanda) Reservoir Operation (Angoedi, 1960) total water demand downstream of the reservoir will be supplied during the wet season 70% from local resources and 30% from the reservoir and conversely during the dry season 30% from local resources and 70% from the reservoir. The committee is also preparing an integrated reservoir operation rule curve based on equal sharing of the three reservoirs in terms of water level and hydro electric power production.

The Shift of Paradigm

Parallel to the national economic development in the last decade is a shift in paradigm in the country. The national policy shifted from a top-down approach to a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, which means public consultations should be considered for preparation of rules and regulations. The government policy on development shifted from provider to enabler, which means the government gives the opportunity for the private sector to develop the water sector while the government provides rules and regulations accordingly. Government tasks and responsibilities shifted from centralization to decentralization with autonomy given to District Government except for five national policies: monetary policy, security and defense, religious affairs, foreign affairs and education.

Decentralization is based on Law No. 22 of 1999 and implementation is based on Government Regulation No. 25 of 2000 which includes responsibility for national natural resources.

The water resources in the basin initially come from several Districts integrated with Citarum as the main resource and used also for the other Districts across the Provincial Administrative Boundary discharged to Jakarta. The Districts feels that the water flow in their administrative boundary is under their responsibility. Conflict occurs between Districts with their autonomy and Jasa Tirta II Public Corporation under the Central Government for water management in the Citarum Basin.

The economic value of water is increasing due to increasing water demand for domestic, municipal and industrial use (DMI) but the social function of water could not be omitted. On the other hand, the performance of water resources infrastructures are decreasing due to inadequate operations and maintenance budgets. There are discrepancies between the water supply capability and water expectation. Commercial water users intend to pay higher costs for the success of their businesses. The conflict is revealed between the users of water for commercial use and water for social services.

Water used for commercial purposes such as industries and municipalities is subject to be taxed by the Government and extended by Provincial Governments based on law No. 34 of 2000. Water for irrigation is free of charge and up to the present is considered a social service. Water for commercial use is subject to pay contributions for operation and maintenance budget of water resources infrastructures to Jasa Tirta II Public Corporation as the water service entity in the basin. Commercial water users are subject to pay twice, either to pay for water taxes to the Provincial Government or contributions to Jasa Tirta II.

The water contribution tariff is decided by the Government and is much lower then water tax. The user pays per cubic meter on a monthly basis. Water users prefer to pay tax first and water charges later.

Revenue and Operation Costs

The annual power production of Ir. H. Djuanda Power Plant is 900 million kWh, normally 5% is used for internal company requirements and the rest is sold to the State Electricity Company. The tariff is very low at present - only US $ 0.01 per kWh. Nevertheless the earnings per year of US $ 9.61 million from electricity is the main source of Jasa Tirta II revenue.

The second biggest revenue of Jasa Tirta II comes from raw water supply for Jakarta Water Supply Company of 430 million m3 per annum, and District Water Supply Companies and Industries of 300 million m3 per year. At present the Jakarta Water Supply Company and District Water Supply Companies pay to Jasa Tirta II US $ 0.007 and US $ 0.004 per m3 respectively and make the earnings to Jasa Tirta II of US $ 3.99 ;million per year. The other revenue comes from other services such as tourism, land rent and sand mining. of about US $ 988,000 per year. The total annual revenue of Jasa Tirta II is about US $ 14.58 million.

The annual costs, including indirect costs required for operation and maintenance of water resources infrastructures is about US $ 28.20 million. Out of which the cost for operation and maintenance is about US $ 20.12 million. Since the annual revenue of Jasa Tirta II is only US $ 14.58 not all the operation and maintenance costs are covered.

Water Resources Sector Reformation Program

As part of the paradigm shift mentioned earlier, the Government launched a Water Resources Sector Reformation Program in 1998 with regard to national policy and public participation concerning water resources development and management. Up to the present the reformation is still in progress.

Regarding the policy of water resources, the Government established a National Coordinating Team to prepare the national policy on water resources development and management. The Team is chaired by The Coordination Ministry for Economic Affairs and the members of the Team are 9 Ministers of the Presidential Cabinet. The Team is in fact an embryo of the National Water Council whose member will consist of 50% representatives of Government entities and 50% representatives of Non Government or other stakeholder. Furthermore, according to the concept that has been prepared, there will also be a Provincial Water Council and River Basin Water Council for the implementation of National Water Policy at the provincial level and in the river basin level successively.

There are many laws and Government regulations that deal with water resources, however in practice there is much confusion which causes hesitancy and doubtfulness. In the era of the reformation such laws and regulations will be revised through public consultation.

At present there are about fourteen agencies concerned with water in the basin, either those agencies responsible to the Central Government or ones responsible to Provincial and District Governments. Jasa Tirta II as a basin operator is only responsible for in-stream of river courses. Regarding water quality Jasa Tirta II is obliged to monitor and evaluate the level of water quality and report to the related provincial agencies. Should water users discharge their waste to the rivers beyond the permissible level, Jasa Tirta II has no right to give warnings or any power to stop supplying water to them because the source of pollutants is in off-stream areas.

More people are aware of the characteristics of water, among others there are relationships between: upstream and downstream, water quality and water quantity, in-stream and off-stream, at present and in future, and water as part of the hydrological cycle. The hydrological boundary is not always the same with the administrative boundary. The existence of water depends on time, location, quantity, and quality for which the water resources management should be extended in a holistic approach, professionally, equally distributed, self supported, and accountable based on the philosophy of one river basin, one integrated plan and one coordinated management.

In the reformation concept, Jasa Tirta II will be strengthened and improved, for example: Jasa Tirta II should hand over the operation and maintenance of irrigation infrastructures. Besides, Jasa Tirta II will give opportunities to private sector or other stakeholders to join in water resources development and management in the basin.

Water management includes: catchment area management, water quantity, water quality, river environment, flood and drought, and water resources infrastructures. For the sustainability of water resources in the catchment area the government will introduce community development programs with people in the area to control illegal logging, agricultural activities, erosion in the catchment area and sedimentation in the downstream reaches. The beneficiaries of water are mostly living in the downstream area which is why a mechanism of incentives from the downstream to upstream should be established.


References

Angoedi, Abdullah. Nota Eksploitasi Waduk Jatiluhur. 1960.

Blommestein, Prof. Dr. Ir. W. J. van. Integrated Water Resources Development in Western Part of Java Island. 1948.

BCEOM. Jatiluhur Irrigation System Management. 1990.

NEDECO, et al. Jatiluhur Water Resources Management Preparation Project. 1998.