We are pumping the ground water dry and we must act now to avoid permanent damage. Bali is on the verge of an environmental catastrophe.
Groundwater reserves in Bali are at around 20% according to Politeknik Negeri Bali (Bali State Polytechnic) in a report published by Republika.
This project calls on Bali’s spiritual, political, economical, and civil leadership attention and responsibility to address the island’s diminishing water table and rapidly dropping levels of freshwater availability to ensure Bali’s present and future water sovereignty and supply resilience. A freshwater table lost to salt water is one of the rare ecological conditions which is not reversible.
Bali’s water table has dropped over 50 meters in some areas in a little less than 10 years and numerous wells are running dry or with foul water, particularly in the South of the main island is the topic of discussion among representatives of various banjars, mentioned by several agricultural.
Lake Buyan, Bali’s second largest natural reserve of freshwater, has dropped 3.5 meters in 3 years (Forgatty 2007) and 5 meters by 2012.
60% of Bali’s watersheds are declared dried (Data Badan Lingkungan Hidup (BLH) Bali News, 12 September 2011);
“Salt water is moving into the empty space left by the declining water table, in some areas in the south in particular such as in Sanur/Suwug, as much as over 1 kilometer inland from the coast line and in the Kuta, Legian and Seminyak areas, over 10 meters” Bali Update edition 763, 25 April 2011, and Bali Advertiser, Wayan Gendo Suardana, 25 August 2012
The main island Bali is not only blessed with plentiful of rain but has an ideal topography to allow gravity-fed rainwater distribution for aquifer replenishment on all areas lying on all sides of the large transversal ridge of mountains dividing the island in two, from east to west.
We must act now to avoid permanent damage. IDEP and University Politeknik Bali are prepared to solve this crisis with your help.
Increasing disruption in water circulation is being reported, in some areas allowing only 1 rice crop per year instead of 2 to 3; recently over 50% of Tabanan’s new reservoir initially built for wet rice farming, has been diverted to south Bandung for Tourism” “Prof. Merit ITV to Prof. Strom Cole, University of the West of England, in A Political Ecology of Water Equity and Tourism, A case study from Bali, 17 January 2012.
IDEP prepared a video to present the problem and to outline the solution. they have a dedicated page to learn how you can get involved, and make a donation today.
See more: