• News
• >
• Waste & Water Management
• >
• Rains won’t go away, but at least Jakarta residents will know the flood is coming

Rains won’t go away, but at least Jakarta residents will know the flood is coming

Rainy season has taken hold across Indonesia, though many argue that the annual respite from the rains never happened, as it has in the past. In anticipation of heavy flooding, officials in Jakarta have unveiled an early warning system to be based in Bogor that would monitor water runoff further inland (http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/early-warning-system-goes-into-effect-to-alert-jakarta-authorities-of-potential-floods/410239).

 

By keeping an eye on water levels at the Bogor floodgate officials say they can predict whether Jakarta’s rivers will rise high enough to cause flooding. They can then share that information with the local disaster management coordinating body, which can then plan accordingly, by setting up evacuation camps or distributing rescue equipment.

 

The plan could go some way toward easing widespread flooding, but it doesn’t account for tidal waters that pour in from the north of the city, where subsidence had led to dramatic flooding in recent years. It also adds an additional expense to Jakarta’s flood management system, which was supposed to see great improvements after the completion of the city’s East Flood Canal this year.

 

Critics say the city administration needs to fix the problem at its start, by building a new upstream reservoir, tidal barriers and dredging Jakarta’s 13 rivers. The government has received a heft loan from the World Bank to put toward these efforts, but problems with land reclamation have stalled their development. In the absence of mitigation, the warning system will at least provide residents with a means of reaching safety during the inevitable flooding.

 

Source: www.thejakartaglobe.com