Bali News

Illegal utilization of underground water in Klungkung regency is getting worse. Uncontrolled increasing number  brought negative impact to the government, especially the government owned drinking water company (PDAM). Ironically the government seems to ignore the situation, regardless its obvious negative impact the the regency.

An official of Klungkung regency government informed that since the beginning underground water is under the responsibility of provincial government along with energy, mineral resources, and electricity. “The increasing illegal exploitation of underground water is a logical consequence from leaving its management to the hands of the provincial government”, he said.

He further admitted that he does not have a statistic about the loss Klungkung is experiencing. With regard to leaving the issue into the provincial government, he pointed out lack of softeare and human resources as the reason. “We are preparing ourselves on this”, he said. He also informed that the provincial government of Bali has once sent a letter asking data and information related to energy, mineral resource, and electricity. Unfortunately the inquiry was not fulfilled as Klungkung does not have it.

It is widely known that illegal utilization of underground water was mostly conducted by commercial entities such as hotels, and Bali villas to cover their daily needs. “Presence of meters by PDAM serves nothing more than symbolic coverage in front of forgery. We have to honestly admitted that it brings us significant loss”, said the President Director of PDAM Klungkung, Made Suyastra.

More than PDAM, Klungkung itself is suffering for significant loss in decreasing availability of underground water. People starts to have problem in getting supply of water. Normally commercial entities need at least an equivalent of one million rupiah of water supply, however their bills are ranging between 300 thousand to 500 thousand, indicating that they are illegaly using underground water to cover the rest. “Regency government of Klungkung is powerless to stop illegal utilization of underground water as it does not have the authority to either issue or withdraw license on utilization of underground water. It is under the authority of the provincial government”, Suyastra said.