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Water Crisis and the High Cost of Wellness
08/27/2010
1,000 Percent Increase on Well-Water Charges Pushed by Bali Governor
Governor Made Mangku Pastika stand on his plans of increasing water rates as high as 1,000 percent and is now being outrageously being questioned by many Bali businesses and uttering lots of complaints for this plans.
According to Bisnis Bali, one prominent member of the Bali House of Representative (DPRD – Bali), Wayan Rawan Atmaja, has promised and showed his support for the governor's tough new policy, even questioning at the same time where the local businesses are actually getting and utilizing their well-water reserves.
He asked the local businesses questions about their own process in getting through their well-waters saying,: "Do all these will have meters and are they reported? For instance, in the Nusa Dua complex there have been a number of traditional wells used by local people that have gone dry."
Rawan apparently suspects that some local community wells have been severely depleted because of some hotels' usage of ground water and at the same time operating with this. He even said that he suspected that same hotels were operating as many as 5 wells, but not really revealing everything and just reported some portion that doesn't match their own data.
Last August 17, 2010 , the Governor speaks and insisted the higher rates of well-water should push through, reminding business people that he is allowing a phased-in approach to the increase of only 50% of the declared increase through the end of 2010, with the full increase in rates to apply in 2011.
Bali's governor remains steadfast in his insistence that Bali worsening water crisis and the intrusion of salt water into the island's water tables make higher water rates and strict conservation of water resources an absolute necessity. Rawan assured that they will conduct survey of the ground water wells and that he will join other members of the local legislature.
