The News Review:

- Decision on water supply irks Jakarta customers
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- South East drought order could be first of many, agency warns
- Water crisis in Dhaka

Decision on water supply irks Jakarta customers
Jakarta Post – May 15, 2006
PT PAM Jaya’s technical director Kris Tutuko, however, told the Post that the city-owned water company had not yet scheduled a meeting to negotiate with PDAM Tangerang. “”We haven’t talked about it internally yet,”" he said. The company, Kris said, was now trying to minimize the impact of the lack of supply from Tangerang by boosting the capacity of water treatment plants in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta, and in Pulogadung and Buaran, which are both in East Jakarta. “”We’ll try to increase the capacity up to 200 liters per second,”" he said, adding that the company has also diverted some of the supply for the eastern part of the city to the west. “”We are also providing mobile water tanks,”" he said. In 2001, PDAM Tangerang partially cut water supplies for Jakarta in a similar disagreement over price. “”The team of experts that was tasked to facilitate the dispute at the time recommended a scheme to anticipate similar intimidations,”" Achmad Lanti, who headed the team, said.

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Pakistan Dawn – May 15, 2006
On the one hand, water shortages are being reported across the country in cities like Karachi, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and even in some sectors in Islamabad, where people are simply not getting water in their taps. Front-page newspaper pictures of the cracked and dried-up portions of Rawal Lake and the half-empty Simly reservoir seem to confirm the official view from the Meteorological Department that yet another drought is at hand. Meanwhile, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has said it was planning to get much-needed water for the twin cities from the Ghazi Barotha Hydel Project. The 10 Corps, Rawalpindi, is reported to have decided at a meeting to fetch water from Jhelum River through tankers to overcome water shortage…
, the winter rains from January to March and the summer monsoon from July to September. But simply blaming the elements for any shortfall in water resources does not help at all. Rain patterns naturally vary from year to year but then it is up to our water planners and water managers to save water when it rains in the catchment areas in the rainy seasons and release it in the dry seasons (i. , April to June and October to December). There is no use simply crying drought every year during the height of the dry season.

South East drought order could be first of many, agency warns
Times Online – May 15, 2006
“Whilst it is a matter for the company to implement the ban as it considers necessary, I expect to see responsible behaviour in the way this drought order is used. In deciding which uses to ban, the company should take a proportionate approach, considering seriously the amount of water that is likely to be saved against the hardship likely to result. “The Minister said that everyone had to play their part to tackle the crisis. “The drought in the south east remains serious. There have been misleading and unhelpful reports suggesting that recent rainfall has somehow solved the problem. “Reservoir levels may have risen, but river flows and groundwater levels are worryingly low and we are now at the end of the vital re-charge period which should have replenished them…
It was vital to act before the situation becomes extreme, he said. “We cannot afford to be complacent. I urge people to respond positively to the message this ban sends out that we all have a responsibility to use water sensibly when resources are under stress, as they are at the present time in this area. “John Lawson, chairman of the Institution of Civil Engineers’ Water Board, said: “It is unfortunate, but the measures in drought orders to limit water use are an appropriate and necessary response to the drought in the South East caused by two dry winters. Without such restrictions, we run the risk of much more severe measures later. “However, this is a short-term measure which needs to be matched with long-term thinking. Since water privatisation in 1989, there has been little investment in new water supplies.

Water crisis in Dhaka
Daily Star – The Daily Star – May 15, 2006
Increasing population of the city and unplanned urbanisation have severe impact on the water supply management and is widening the gap between demand and supply of water. Moreover making a proper assessment of area-based water demand become very hard for the Wasa as the commercial and residential areas have lost their characteristics. The existing four water treatment plants are supplying 18 per cent of the total water supplies by Dhaka Wasa. Rest of the water supply comes from groundwater through 430 deep tube-wells, according to the Wasa data. Along side the Wasa deep tube-wells, more than 1,000 authorised private and numerous unauthorised deep tube-wells are also lifting water from underground which is downing the groundwater table between 2 and 3 meters annually. “For developing water supply management for the capital city, Wasa has four projects and these projects have been approved by ECNEC, but shortage of funds has kept those projects on papers only,” the official said. “Wasa alone can do nothing and there is no chance for resolving the water crisis within next four or five years even if the policymakers start working for the a permanent solution to the crisis from today,” he added.