The Background
The Balinese landscape consists of hilly terrain dominated by ridges which extend from east to west and connect a number of volcanoes. Among those, five volcanoes have an elevation of more than 2,000 metres; the ridges of this mountainous area form the boundaries for Bali Island’s main watersheds.
Meanwhile, Bali has an average annual precipitation of 2,150 mm with an average maximum annual rainfall of 2,700 mm. In the southern part of Bali, groundwater supplies tend to be sufficient due to its gently sloping valleys. However, the northern part, which consists of more steep valleys sloping towards the sea, has fewer groundwater supplies.
Various types of water resources (precipitation, surface water and groundwater) in Bali are commonly used for rice-field irrigation, non-rice field irrigation, domestic, industry and tourism purposes. Research conducted in 1992, shows only 21% of respondents used PDAM (state-owned freshwater company) water while 27.5% used bored wells and 73% used shallow wells. A recent study also notes that inhabitants who relied upon groundwater for domestic purposes used an average of 60 to 120 litres/person/day in both urban and rural areas.
It is projected that Bali will suffer from 7.5 million m3 water deficit. Karangasem Regency in general has already suffered from water shortage at 33.7 million m3 in 2002 for non-rice field irrigation and domestic needs.
The Watershed Management Program
The Environmental Bamboo Foundation piloted a project to rehabilitate the critical watershed areas, especially in Eastern Bali. Our technical assessments resulted in the choice of Bukit Paon Hills (886 m), Bhuana Giri village of Bebandem District to be the first pilot project covering about 50 hectares of degraded protected forest area.
EBF planted 15,000 bamboo seedlings (mostly black bamboo/Gigantochloa atroviolacea) to cover the area multi-cropping with the existing stands (mostly pine trees).
The project had three main focuses; reforestation, watershed rehabilitation, and socio-religious aspect providing most used material for Balinese regular temple ceremonies: bamboo poles.
EBF hopes that in the next five years there will be new springs coming up somewhere around the nearby villages as well as emerging small enterprises on bamboo handicraft as an alternative income generation drive for local communities.