Ground Water Exploitation

1.In your own words, explain what the title of this article means.

It means that people in Jakarta are taking the water that is meant to be shared and using it for themselves. The don't care that other people will have to go without water because of them. They just want water for themselves.

2.According to the article, who is taking a lot of water out of the aquifer?

High-rise buildings. They're taking lots because they house lots of people, and with lots of people they have to take lots of water to get them all clean and not thirsty.

3.If you take a lot of water from the aquifer, what three things happen?

1. Other people have to go without.

2. Salt water will leak into the groundwater

3. Buildings get cracks in them.

4.What is the punishment for taking more water than your permit allows?
The punishment is a 5 million rupiah fine for whoever owns the building.

5.Do you think this punishment will stop people taking too much water from the aquifer? Why?

No, because to owners of large buildings that amount of money is very little. It is about the equivalent to USD$500.

6.Jakarta’s aquifers are being contaminated by sea water. What else is contaminating Jakarta’s groundwater?

When septic tanks are placed too close to wells, the water in the wells will get contaminated by human waste. Studies show that 90% of Jakarta's well water was infected with E-coli.

7.What evidence is there for the additional contamination in number 6?

Lot's of people are getting sick because of the water and others say it smells bad, and looks a browny colour.

Clean Water

Septic Tank: The tank in which human waste is stored for anything from 6 months up to a year -or until the tank is full! Septic tanks are generally buried underground in Jakarta because of gravity and somewhere and to place it away from people's activities. The alternative is deep sewage.

Unprocessed: Water that is not cleaned or treated. Most of the water in Jakarta is not processed because of the lack of water treatment plants and mains water network.

Pressure: Is the force of water due to gravity or a water pump. Most houses have a water tank on their roof. Some houses also have elecric water pumps to improve water pressure. If there is no electricity then there is no pressure because the pumps in Jakarta all need electricity to run.

Groundwater: Is water from the aquifer that is sometimes used as drinking water, depending on the minerals content and impurities. In Jakarta the aquifers aren't easily replenished because all the rainwater bounces off roofs and goes down the drains and eventually reaches the oceans. This is why there's so much drought in Jakarta.

Reservoir: The place water is stored before it goes into treatment plants. You can boat in it as long as the boat doesn't have an engine and you can swim in it too. In Jakarta you wouldn't REALLY want to swim in the reservoirs because of all the pollution. The pollution consists of branches, leaves, tropical fruits, rubbish from people walking by, and just plain dirt.

Water Myths

Myths-
We have less water today than we did 100 years ago.
No, it's the exact same amount of water, it's just been recycled lots of times. The water we take baths in could be the water a dinosaur took a bath in, a million years ago.

Once you use water, it’s gone.
No, the water is easily treatable and no matter how many times we drink it, it will be the same water we drink in the next week or month. It's recycled and then put back into our water filters and water tanks and everything else.

There are more pollutants in drinking water today than before.
No, it's just the way science see's it. There wasn't much technology ten years ago but now that there is it looks like there's more pollutants in the water because we can see more.