Over the past decade, water debit and quality of Ake Gaale spring water – PDAM Ternate’s raw water main source – has decreased significantly due to rapid housing construction in water catchment areas and saltwater intrusion. This unfavorable situation has forced PDAM Ternate to reduce its production capacity.
To address this issue, Ternate city government, usually refered to as Pemkot Ternate, and USAID IUWASH PLUS has established a corporate social responsibility (CSR) partnership with national and local firms to build infiltration ponds in spring catchment delineation areas. The infiltration ponds construction is one of the key recommendations of the spring vulnerability assessment and action plan (KKMA) that Pemkot Ternate and USAID IUWASH PLUS has conducted since early 2017.
Since November 2017, Pemkot Ternate has established CSR partnerships with other government organizations and private firms, among others are Bank Indonesia of Maluku branch, BPBD, PT. Laniege, BMPD, and BPRS Bahari Berkesan to build the infiltration ponds.
Besides establishing the CSR partnership, Ternate city government together with USAID IUWASH PLUS also trained community members on how to build an infiltration ponds in the beginning of December 2017. Upon the training, the community members were able to support the infiltration ponds construction.
“Since January 2018 to present, Ternate city government has built 86 infiltration ponds through the CSR partnerships,” said Bambang Maradjabessy, the Head of Facility and Infrastructure Division of Ternate city Public Works Office.
Besides, GEMA CAMTARA (North Ternate Community-Based Movement to Save and Harvest Rainwater) has built more than 39 IPAHs (Rainwater Use Plants)—using a technology combination between infiltration ponds and SPAH (Rainwater Use Systems)—from mid-2017 to mid-2018.
“A partnership between government, non-profit organizations, and the private sector is an efficient solution to address environmental issue” said Bambang.
“Therefore, Ternate city government highly appreciates supports from all stakeholders participated in the CSR partnership to the infiltration ponds construction,” said Bambang during the dinner meeting for CSR forum on November 22, 2018 held by Ternate city government with support from USAID IUWASH PLUS.
Although the infiltration ponds construction only began early this year, some community members reported improvement to the spring water quantity and quality.
Alwan, the Chairperson of Save Ake Gaale—a community based movement to save Ake Gaale spring, said that Ake Gaale’s retention pond in Sangaji village, which used to be dry, has water now, and fish grow well in the pond.
“The [CSR forum] meeting apprises us about the potential water crisis in Ternate city and the importance of the infiltration ponds to address the issue. Therefore, we will build 300 infiltration ponds using the 2019 local government budget (APBD),” said the Head of the Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) of Ternate city, Said Assegaf.
Similarly, a number of firms, such as PT PLN, PT Pelindo, and Bank Syariah Mandiri, also expressed their interest in supporting the infiltration ponds construction.
-Surya Akbar-
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