THE global warming phenomenon has placed many human settlements across our planet at risk of being erased from the map.
Our neighbour Indonesia has not been spared with its capital Jakarta now under threat of being submerged after it began sinking over the past few decades. Often, such a phenomenon is attributed to the rising sea level. However, some quarters have claimed that another factor is at play in Jakarta. They pointed to the extremely high number of wells being dug up by locals as being the cause, which has exacerbated the problem.
Is this true?
Verdict:
TRUE
Spanning roughly 700sq km, Jakarta is sited on a delta, and it is reported that some 40% of the city is already under sea level.
Much of the sinking is taking place along the northern coastline of Jakarta, where the city meets the Java Sea.
In these parts, it is estimated that Jakarta is sinking by about 25cm a year, putting the livelihoods of local communities under threat.
In 2007, it was reported that 80 people died due to a flood that has been described as the worst to have hit Jakarta.
In the past five decades, the city’s population has skyrocketed from just below two million to well over 10 million in 2020.
Yet, it is estimated that less than half of its households have access to piped water, leaving the rest with no choice but to dig up wells for water.
They built pumps to extract water stored in the aquifers – porous, underground layers of rock which contain groundwater.
So much water has been extracted that the soil began to compact and caused the ground above it to start sinking.
Usually, water in aquifers is refilled naturally thanks to rain, which is absorbed into the ground.
However, the rapid development above Jakarta’s soil has largely prevented this from happening.
The situation has gotten so bad that the provincial government is now taxing the pumping of groundwater to regulate its use.
And this month (August 2023), a ban is expected to take effect preventing buildings larger than 54,000sq ft from extracting groundwater.
To address the issue, the government in 2014 announced a plan to build a 120km seawall along the northern coast of Jakarta to prevent flooding.
The second phase of the plan will also include the construction of a mega project offshore in Jakarta Bay.
This will be an artificial island measuring some 4,000ha in the shape of ‘Garuda’ bird – Indonesia’s symbol – to block storm surges into Jakarta.
In 2019, Indonesia also announced moving its capital to East Kalimantan in the Borneo archipelago, which will be called ‘Nusantara’.
References:
Credit: The Star : News Feed
