The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) ensures that water quality monitoring in the country has extensive coverage with 15,065 monitoring points spread out. The monitoring system becomes one of the discussion topics at the 10th World Water Forum held on May 18-25, 2024, in Bali.
“For the Water Quality Index, we have data from 15,065 points, perhaps there is no other country in Indonesia that has such extensive measurement for water quality,” Director-General for Environmental Pollution and Degradation Control (PPKL) at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Sigit Reliantoro, said during a technical meeting of the 2024 Environmental Control Festival in Jakarta on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
These monitoring points are established through collaboration between the central government and local governments, with environmental quality monitoring data from local governments showing an increase in 2023 compared to the previous year.
The data for provinces increased by 2.12 percent from 2022, and districts/cities increased by 5.37 percent from the previous period.
The monitoring results depict the condition of water quality in various rivers in Indonesia, showing an increase in conditions from the national average of 53.88 points in 2022 to 54.59 points in 2023.
Sigit said that in 2023, consistent monitoring at 812 points, combined with data from local government monitoring at 5,157 points, showed that 18 percent of points experienced an improvement in water quality. Sixty-seven percent did not experience any change in quality, and 15 percent experienced a decrease.
“We thank North Maluku, Southeast Sulawesi, West Papua, North Sumatra, and Banten provinces for showing an upward trend in river quality improvement,” he said.
Key issues raised at the 10th World Water Forum in Bali include Water Quality Assessment and Ecosystem Health, where Indonesia will present water quality monitoring systems, including Onlimo, which is used to calculate the Water Quality Index.
Improving water quality will also be one of the topics discussed for mutual learning among countries participating in the 10th World Water Forum, considering Indonesia has undertaken various improvement efforts such as the construction of communal wastewater treatment plants (IPAL) and small business units, as well as riparian ecosystems.
The 10th World Water Forum focuses on four main themes: water conservation, clean water and sanitation, food and energy security, and mitigation of natural disasters.
A total of 244 sessions in the forum are expected to provide concrete results regarding mainstreaming integrated water resources management for small islands, establishing centers of excellence or best practices for water and climate resilience, and designating World Lake Days.
The Indonesian government has invited 43 ambassadors and 4 international organizations to participate and support the success of the 10th World Water Forum.
