Jayapura, Jubi – The Municipal Government held a public consultation forum on possible impact of supplying water from Lake Sentani to Jayapura.
The local government received a lot of feedback from customary leaders and institutions who are concerned about environmental and water issues. Due to the lack of spring resources, the Municipal Government is planning to set up the Sentani Lake as the water supply for municipal residents.
In addition, the public consultation is aimed to convey about the water pipes installation in the Sentani Lake to drain the water to the central of Jayapura Municipality. Therefore the customary landowners must get a concern by the local government.
“We are open minded, but we don’t want to disturb the community who make a living at surrounded Sentani Lake,” Markus Ongge said on Tuesday noon (28/10).
He further expects people could be aware and work together to protect the environment in Port Numbay, as currently they were less contributed.
“Especially to those who are doing the illegal logging. And the second, Kamp Wolker was not functioning as the water tank but swimming pool,” he said.
The Head of Papua Watershed Management Agency, Happy Mulya appreciated and supported the Municipal Government’s program. As follow up action, recently the Papua Watershed Management Agency have conducted the investigation study and design plan on drained water supply development for Jayapura Municipality and its surrounding areas.
According to him, Water Supply System Development is a request of Jayapura Mayor due to water volume decrease in Jayapura Municipaly because of the decrease of the water resources as the result of the damage of the watershed areas, in particular in the water-buffering zone at Cyclop Region.
“So we searched the alternative location for water supply, and Sentani Lake fulfilled the criteria. The water would be drained from the location near to Waena in considering the operational cost. We will analysis the technical aspect on the reallocation, as well as another aspect such as social, environmental and other related aspects,” he said.
He expected through the public consultation, the Municipal Government could get some inputs from the related stakeholders at Municipal and Provincial levels, including the environmentalists, water stock observers, academics and customary leaders and ready to follow up to fulfill the water supply in Jayapura Municipality.
“We hope this can contribute to the water needs of the city residents which has been incresed each year, and also related to the PON 2020 (National Sport Event) that will be held in Province Papua,” he said. (Sindung Sukoco/rom)
