Piped water dream

Imkong Walling

On June 5, every year, the world comes together to observe World Environment Day. It is a day dedicated to protecting the environment even as the condition of the environment deteriorates year after year.

The set date must have passed for the year, but it would not be wrong to imagine each day as Environment Day. And taking that liberty, allow this column to focus on a phenomenon that has been developing in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. 

The megacity, inhabited over 1 crore (10 million) people, is sinking into the sea. The BBC, in an August 2018 report, citing researchers at the country’s Bandung Institute of Technology, states that the city is sinking by an average of 1-15cm a year and by 2050, much of North Jakarta would be under the sea.

Two human-made causes have been attributed to the phenomenon— rising sea levels caused by climate change (global warming) and uncontrolled extraction of the city’s groundwater source (aquifers). With 60 percent of its population said to be solely reliant on groundwater, the latter, according to researchers, is speeding up the claiming of the city’s coastal areas by rising sea waters. 

How extraction of groundwater has resulted in sinking of the land is explained like this— pumping of water from the aquifers far quicker than the earth could naturally replenish. A disproportionate extraction-replacement cycle results in empty spots underground, which weakens the soil above. 

Without water, which was serving as a natural support structure, the weight of the soil, together with the weight of the buildings above, pushes down resulting in the sinking-land phenomenon. 

Other reports state that as a result, the Indonesian government is contemplating a gargantuan plan to move the administrative capital to a safer location elsewhere in the country. 

It may seem far removed from the troubles Nagaland is facing today, the juxtaposition though would ring a chord with what is happening Dimapur. 

The reason is this— Nagaland’s Dhansiri River valley, in particular, the urban sprawl of Dimapur, is also entirely dependent on ground water. 

Research conducted by the state Department of Geology & Mining has revealed that two of three known aquifers that have served as the source of water for the plains of Dimapur are drying up.  The aquifer are said to occur at depths of 40 feet— the first at 40-50 feet, the second at 120-180 feet and the third at 200 feet and below. 

The findings, which were presented at a departmental meeting in 2018, pointed to unregulated extraction of ground water and one, which is still continuing unabated. 

Concrete structures are further compounding the problem. According to the findings, small water bodies, such as ponds and also swamps, which serve as catchment areas, are being replaced by concrete, preventing the natural seeping of water underground to replenish the aquifers. 

As a result, much of the rainwater is lost as surface runoff, which would otherwise have percolated to replenish the aquifers. 

Dimapur may not have seas in the immediate vicinity waiting to submerge its lands. The evidence, disconcerting as it is, calls for not only controlling ground water exploitation but also conscious efforts to bring piped water to all households by the government. 

The writer is a Principal Correspondent at The Morung Express. Comments can be sent to imkongwalls@gmail.com