West Java Water Sustainability Index – A case study on Citarum Catchment

Abstract

In the last decade, the provincial government of West Java has implemented various programs to improve the performances of the water resources in West Java catchments. However, these programs were not successful. It is believed that the main cause for the failure of the programs is the lack of awareness of the people of West Java on the importance of water resources. In general, people in West Java are not aware that those valuable water resources are deteriorating and need to be sustained. It is therefore important to obtain a comprehensive understanding on the current status of water resource conditions in West Java. Once the information on the current conditions of the water resources is obtained, relevant programs can be designed to improve the quality of the water resources. A water sustainability index is a useful tool to address the above issues, as it offers the following benefits: • It can be used to identify all factors contributing to the improvement of water resources, so that the resources can be used to satisfy the present and future needs. • It can be used to assist decision makers to prioritise issues and programs related to water resource management. • It can be used to communicate the current status of existing water resources to the wider community. The West Java Water Sustainability Index (WJWSI) was developed to address the above issues related to West Java water catchments. This paper discusses the application of WJWSI in the Citarum catchment. It outlines the tasks for developing WJWSI and highlights the results of its application, which will be the basis for recommendations suggested to the relevant authorities. The tasks for developing the WJWSI include the development of conceptual framework and the application of the Delphi technique to refine the conceptual framework. After the application of the Delphi technique, the framework was then finalised with an in-depth interview with key stakeholders. In the application of WJWSI, the continuous rescaling and categorical scaling methods were used for obtaining sub-index values of the indicators and sub-indicators. The continuous rescaling method was used to obtain the sub-indices of non-qualitative indicators, whereas the categorical scaling method was used to obtain the sub-indices of qualitative indicators. Using the continuous rescaling method, maximum and minimum threshold values for each indicator or sub-indicator were identified. To use the categorical scaling method, categories and criteria for each indicator or sub-indicator were developed. The results showed that five out of thirteen indicators and sub-indicators used in WJWSI had low sub-index values. Those five indicators and sub-indicators were Water Availability, Water Quality, Education, Water Loss and Poverty. Due to their poor performances, these indicators and sub-indicators need higher priority of actions. Therefore, based on the application, recommendations are suggested to the relevant authorities in the Citarum catchment to prioritise these indicators and sub-indicators in the improvement of water resource management in West Java.