In the south of Bali, where the majority of the population lives, water is now a chronic issue. With so much of the land now covered in concrete buildings and roads, rain can no longer penetrate into the ground to refresh the water table; it runs into drains, rivers and finally the sea. The Badung Regency Environmental Agency (BLH) has forbidden the digging of any more wells that tap into the diminishing water tables. Meanwhile, salt water intrusion now extends up to 100 meters inland in some parts of south Bali and Sanur, threatening the quality of the freshwater tables that remain viable. Although there’s talk of tapping the Badung and Yeh Penet rivers to serve homes, villas and hotels in south Bali beyond the PDAM government water service areas, this is not a sustainable option. Desalination plants will probably start to pick up the slack in the near future, but at a high cost to consumers. Strangely, there is not much talk of urban rainwater catchment.
The Regent of Badung recently issued a special regulation requiring every building owner to capture rain water by making absorption holes. For every 25 square meters of building area building owners must establish a minimum of 3 absorption holes measuring 10 centimeters wide and 100 centimeters deep. This allows rainwater to percolate down and replenish the water table instead of being lost in drainage channels to the sea. But why not capture some for drinking, cooking and bathing?
Accessibility to household water remains a challenge to many Balinese outside of the densely populated south. Most rural households have small rain water tanks, but these only hold enough water for a few weeks. During the dry season Bali’s villages rely on wells and springs for their drinking and cooking water. In the dry north east, women walk for hours every day to carry a few litres of water home to their families. Even in Tabanan, Bali’s historic rice basket, villagers must often carry water up from steep ravines to their compounds.
I recently had the privilege of meeting Pak Rus Alit, a humble man whose outstanding work in appropriate technology deserves more recognition. The 11th child of a poor farming family in Tabanan, Rus had the opportunity to study in New Zealand for three years after high school. The experience profoundly changed his life. “When I returned to my village, I saw elderly people climbing down the ravine for water,” he says. “In New Zealand, water was always available just by turning on a tap. I wanted to help my people, so I started to look at alternatives for them”.
“The most important thing was that the technology must be simple and sustainable. Sophisticated technology controls people, but appropriate technology can be controlled and used by the people.”
Rus Alit developed a version of a hydraulic ram pump. A spring near his village was too inaccessible to be used, but he found that it provided clean water coming straight out of the rock at a rate that could deliver 38 drums of water every 24 hours –- more than enough to serve the community. “I took the village heads to see a ram pump nearby -– it was easier to show them than to try and explain the system to them,” he recalls. “The pump is easy to make, cheap to install and can be maintained and repaired by local people. It requires no fuel, as it is driven by the movement of the spring or river.” The villagers decided to adopt the system. One man offered to sell his cows to raise the cash needed for materials and the other farmers pledged to repay him after the rice harvest.
With all the men pitching in to help, within two days the villagers had made a small dam at the spring, laid the pipe up to the village and constructed a central water tank. Several men were trained to maintain the system. For an investment of about $200, the village had abundant clean water close to each household. Later, Rus Alit helped the villagers build a water wheel to husk their harvested rice.
In 1981, the Director of World Vision Indonesia retained Rus Alit as a consultant. Based in Jakarta, he worked from one end of Indonesia to the other and into the South Pacific, delivering appropriate technologies in water supply, micro-hydro and biogas systems. Later he was based in Australia to work in China and Africa. He resigned from World Vision 12 years ago to set up the Bali Appropriate Technology Institute (BATI) near his village in Tabanan, but still spends most of the year working and teaching internationally. His mission is to bring clean water to people around the world, and most recently his work has led him to Ghana, Rwanda and East Timor.
Every September the BATI offers a ten-day course in appropriate technologies to an international student body. “It’s always a fascinating mixture of scientists and villagers. People come from Africa, Central America, Japan and elsewhere in Asia to learn about water systems, road and bridge building, micro-enterprise, animal husbandry and sustainable agriculture technologies hands-on in a very simple environment,” he explains.
There are now hundreds of Rus pumps all over Bali and the rest of the world. “A one meter drop from a spring or river generates enough energy to drive piped water uphill for about 20 meters,” he explains. “A ten metre drop or an array of ten systems will raise water 100 metres.” Retaining the water once it has been pumped up from a river or spring is an integral part of the system. For about $300, each family can build a 6,000 litre covered cement water tank. A sand filter removes most harmful organisms from this water, and a further six hours of exposure to the sun makes it safe to drink.
It’s a great paradox that Bali is suffering a water shortage while rain keeps falling in torrents and running off into the sea. The government has built several dams and is planning more, but it makes sense for each household to capture rainwater for its own use. A heavy rainfall will fill a large water tank in less than an hour. And anyone who has ever tasted rain or spring water filtered through charcoal will never drink Aqua again.
You’ll be hearing more about Pak Rus Alit. His talk so inspired my Rotary club that we’re already planning to design a water project in Karangasem with him. We share his vision to bring clean water to the people of Bali, and celebrate his great contribution to appropriate technology.
(Correction to last article Green Wheels… Bali Green Point contact Luckee can be reached at 081236834506)
Dragons in the Bath, a collection of Ibu Kat’s stories, it is available at Ganesha Books in Ubud and at Biku in Seminyak, and at Periplus bookstores in Bali. It can be ordered nationally and internationally through www.dragonsinthebath.com <http://www.dragonsinthebath.com>
