Fifty-six lakes around Jakarta vanished in past five years

The Jakarta Post 28 Mar 09;

The Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) said a total of 56 lakes in Jakarta and its satellite towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabodetabek) had disappeared in the past five years.

"The number of dams in the Jabodetak area has declined from 240 in 2004 to 184 in 2009 while the government always claimed that there are over 200 lakes at present," Walhi campaigner for water and food availability Erwin Rustam said in Jakarta as reported by Antara on Saturday.

Of the 184 dams, 19 are still in good condition while the remaining ones are now experiencing serious shallowing and damage. In term of width, the 240 reservoirs in the Jabodetabek areas have also decreased from 2,337.10 hectares to 1,462 hectares (184 dams).

The average depth of the reservoirs also has dropped from the previous 5 to seven meters to less than 2.5 - 3 meters, including the Gintung dam of Jakarta outskirts in Cirendeu village, Ciputat sub-district, Tangerang, which broke down on Friday morning killing at least 50 residents.

He said that the Walhi data were taken from the directorate general of water resources of the Ministry of Public Works.

Rustam said there were three main causes for the disappearance of the lakes, namely the change in the function of land, the lakes being used as refuse dump sites and shallowing.

The change in the function of land has caused the dam to be converted into resettlement, restaurant and business centers. "There are lakes in Jakarta and Depok which have become garbage dumping sites," he said.

In the meantime, serious sedimentation also caused disappearance of lakes worsened by partial restoration which is not in line with the River Basin Areas (DAS) restoration program of the Forestry Ministry, he said.

Rustam said that in order to restore lakes in the Jabodetabek area, the government had to revitalized more 200 reservoirs in the area including their catchment and DAS areas.