Free Flow

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IPAG60: alternative technology for clean water in

peatland areas

Indonesia’s attention to the issue of environmen-

tal damage is increasingly intensifying. One cause

of the worsening environmental conditions is the

management of natural resources that either cannot

be renewed or that are renewable but have exceeded

their capacity. Environmental sustainability and

ecosystem levels have not been maintained and the

parties involved – in this case, the private and state

enterprises, governments and communities – need to

develop good cooperation and synergy for sustainable

environmental management.

If the quality of the social life of the community in

question is good enough, then its ability to support

environmental conservation programmes will be

better. Regional development in buffer zones and

transition areas should be done to create economic

activities that benefit the community in the region in

order to preserve and protect the core area. Activities

undertaken include the development and application

of appropriate technologies that can meet the basic

needs of communities around the reserve, including

water supply and other economic resources. Economic

development implementation programmes in buffer

zones and transition areas are expected to balance the

interests of conservation with the economic interests

of the development of biosphere reserves.

The majority of areas in Riau Province and Central

Kalimantan Province have land with peat surface water,

which characteristically has:

• low pH levels (2-4), making it highly acidic

• high levels of organic matter

• high levels of iron and manganese

• yellow or dark brown colour.

This kind of surface water is basically not suitable

as raw water for drinking. Compared with freshwa-

ter surface water, the water from the turf needs to be

processed specifically through several additional stages.

Improving the efficiency of water treatment plants

requires a review of potential issues that may arise in

every phase of the water treatment process. Meanwhile,

the first phase of the IPAG60 research activity aims to

conduct field observations in order to determine the

location of IPAG and to learn about the readiness and

willingness of local communities to adopt appropriate

technologies that will be implemented.

Peat water treatment technology that has been estab-

lished in previous studies (2009-2011), by Ignasius D.A.

Sutapa and team enables peat areas to have peat water

treatment facilities for the drinking water supply. During

the implementation and testing of the water treatment

facility, this is limited to the area of Katingan, Central

Kalimantan province. However, a lot of territory in some

areas in Indonesia – especially Sumatra and Kalimantan

– have clean water source issues. Implementation of this

technology in the wider area is necessary to support the

increase in water services in the region.

together shaped the landscape over the past thousand years and

are an integral part of religious life. Rice is seen as the gift of God,

and the subak system is part of temple culture. Water from springs

and canals flows through the temples and out onto the rice paddy

fields. Water temples are the focus of cooperative water resource

management by a group of subaks. Since the eleventh century the

water temple networks have managed the ecology of rice terraces

at the scale of whole watersheds. They provide a unique response

to the challenge of supporting a dense population on a rugged

volcanic island.

In total, Bali has about 1,200 water collectives, and between 50

and 400 farmers manage the water supply from one source of water.

The property consists of five sites that exemplify the interconnected

natural, religious and cultural components of the traditional subak

system – where the subak system is still fully functioning, where

farmers still grow traditional Balinese rice without the aid of fertilis-

ers or pesticides, and where the landscapes overall are seen to have

sacred connotations.

The subak is a mixture of different units:

• Technologically, it includes a dam and an intricate system of

collectively owned irrigation canals

• Physically, it comprises all rice terraces within clearly

defined subak boundaries. These boundaries are defined by

all rice fields which receive irrigation water from the subak

irrigation infrastructure

• Socially, it consists of all farmers who cultivate land within

the subak boundaries and receive water from the subak

irrigation infrastructure

• Religiously, it includes ceremonies on individual, subak and

inter-subak levels. The ceremonies are linked to a hierarchical

order of water temples which play an important role in the

coordination of irrigation water and pest management.

Clean water produced by local people using IPAG60

Image: APCE