Climate Change and Water Scarcity Adaptation Strategies in the Area of Pacitan, Java Indonesia

Abstract

The Karst area in Indonesia consists of a total area of 154.000 km2 of which 15% is protected. Pacitan is a part of The Thousand Mountains (Gunung Sewu in Javanese language) karst area and located in Southern Coastal of Java Island. Gunung Sewu karst area ranges over 85km from west in Yogyakarta Special Province, to the east in East Java Province. Water scarcity is one of the issues in Pacitan due to the porous texture of the karst underground; most of the precipitation trickles immediately down into extensive system of sinkholes and caves. Thus, no surface water rivers, brooks or springs can be found in the area, especially during dry season where water supply, such as little lakes, called telaga, are depleted. Three sub-districts of Pacitan that include in Gunung Sewu karst area, i. e. Donorojo, Punung, and Pringkuku, suffer water shortage, especially during dry season, where the local communities need to walk up to 5 kilometers in order to take water for their domestic use. However, State-owned Water Company (Perusahaan Daerah Air Minum/PDAM) that has developed since 1992 in Pacitan, contributes in water supply in these areas and it has covered 70% in three kecamatan (sub-districts) by building IPA and is currently developing to cover the rest of the area by utilizing big water sources. PDAM and The Ministry of Public Work support the water treatment installation (Instalasi Pengolahan Air/IPA), especially in these three sub-districts. Furthermore, adaptive capacity has been developed in the local community of karst area in Pacitan, e.g. planting cultivars resistant to drought (cassava, maize, soybean, and groundnut) or doing multi cropping between those cultivars, and planting rainwater harvesting and artificial aquifer.