Proceedings of the 1st AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster

Yogyakarta, 22-23 January 2014

FLOOD MANAGEMENT IN JAKARTA

Siswoko Sastrodihardjo
Former Director General of Water Resources Management, Ministry of Public Works, Republic of Indonesia (May 2005July 2007); Former Chair of Southeast Asia GWP (2007-2010); email: sastrodihardjosiswoko@yahoo.co.id

Abstract:
Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, has developed mostly in flood plain. Annual damages caused by floods
and inundation keeps on increasing. Implemented efforts can not meet the rising problems. The
completed and on-going physical/structural measures are in the form of flood control and urban
drainage systems. They are constructed for certain capacity, not for absolute protection. Non structural
measures which lies in public domain is still limited, due to lack of community understanding about
risks of living in flood-plain.
In relation to the big flood occurred in mid January 2013, the government is presently preparing
physical measures to make Jakarta free of floods. Apart from doubts regarding the feasibility, the
activities show that the government is still relying on structural measures.
Floods are phenomena which can never be fully controlled. Structural measures tend to create a false sense of
security in the population protected by the works.Therefore it is required to shift from flood control
paradigm to integrated flood management (IFM) paradigm, a combination between structural and non
structural measures, emphazising public participation. National Policy to contain water related disasters
as stipulated in Law No.7/2004 on Water Resources have been in line with the new paradigm.
Keywords: Jakarta; flood management; structural measures; nonstructural measures; paradigm shift.

1. INTRODUCTION
Jakarta that used to be named Batavia has grown
and developed in the flood-plain of Ciliwung river.
The city keeps developing and nowadays
approximately 50% of Jakarta area is in the floodplain of 13 rivers including Ciliwung river. Since
founded, almost every year Jakarta has flood and
flood inundation everywhere, and it has been done
a lot of efforts to overcome the problems since
hundreds years ago, by building various physical
infrastructures that have been done mainly by the
government.
Flood inundation thats occurred in Jakarta can be
caused by the overflow of river, tidal water from
the sea, and the obstructed local rainfall flow to
the drain and river. Besides triggered by the
development of flood-plain into city areas such as
luxurious settlements, five-star hotels, malls, and
other public infrastructures that are not adaptable
and anticipatable to the possibility of flood
inundation; flood problems in Jakarta are worsened
by the land subsidence, rising of the sea level
because of the global warming, climate change,
watershed deterioration, solid wastes, lack

of people awareness, and insufficient operation

and maintenance of existing infrastructures. Real
estates, luxurious hotels, shopping complexes,
business centers, and luxurious housing complexes
also all city infrastructures in Jakarta that are
flooded between January-February in 1996, 2002,
2007, and 2013 all are located in the flood-plain.
The flood in 1996, 2002, 2007, and the last one in
January 2013, showed that the disaster and loss
because of the flood keep increasing, and the
physical efforts that have been built are not enough
to reduce moreover to clear up the problems.
Related to that problems, government has launched
various physical infrastructure development
programs to fulfill people expectation, so Jakarta
can be free of flood and flood inundation. The
measures
include Multipurpose Deep Tunnel
(MPDT), diversion/interconnection Ciliwung-East
Flood Canal (EFC) , Ciawi Dam and the Great
Sea Wall (GSW) Project.

Yogyakarta, 22-23 January 2014

Proceedings of the 1st AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster

2. THE CAUSES OF FLOOD PROBLEM IN

JAKARTA
Flood problem in Jakarta is generated by some
factors either static behavior of the nature (
approximately 50% of Jakarta area is located in
flood-plain of 13 rivers); and the dynamic behavior
of the nature ( high rainfall and the backwater from
the high tide of the sea). The non-natural causes are
related to people activities such as :
a) The limitation of infrastructures maintenance
Physical infrastructure for controlling the flood
and the city drains that have been built are not
operated and maintained well. So, the rivers
and the drains are filled with sediment and solid
waste. As a result the flow capacity is not
according to the plan. A lot of drains are closed
by some people, so it is not easy to do the
maintenance. Also the pump system sometimes
can fail to work even the fuel is not available.
Besides the budget for operational and
maintenance is limited, the problems occurred
also related to government policy which is
mainly to prior physical development, also the
management of garbage which is still bad plus
the lack of guidance and supervision of the
people by the government.
b) Land-use planning
The use of upper watershed areas which
doesnt follow spatial plan and also various
requirements that have been set such as green
open space and infiltration wells, so the amount
of flood water that flows to the downstream
tends to increase over time. In the downstream,
the land-use in the flood-plain areas, up to now
hasnt considered the risk of flood, and hasnt
applied flood-plain management; so various
activities by the private, government, and the
group of people that have been grown fast
increasing the loss when there is flood. The
planner including the official of relevant
agencies and also the people havent
understood, although structural measures has
already been built, there is still the risk of flood
in the flood-plain. Along the river bank has
already been built a lot of houses, such as
permanent houses, legal, and illegal houses or
squatters; so that they narrow the river capacity
to flow the flood. Squatters is also built in the
reservoir area, such as in Pluit reservoir. The
effort to inform the risks to the people,
including the management of the development

in the flood-plain that has already been grown

is not easy.
c) The urban drainage system
The urban drainage system is built to overcome
the flood inundation caused by local rain. It is
in the form of canal that flows to the river or
sea which is planned based on the discharge of
2-5 years flood. If the flow is impossible by
gravitation, it can be equipped by polder
system, it is in the form of reservoir and pump
station which are designed for 25 years flood.
The dimension of the existing canals in general
cant accommodate the escalation of discharge
because of the fast change of the land use, so
the performance of the drainage system is
below the standards set. Garbage and sediment
along the canal and reservoirs, also obstacles of
the flow due to the cross structures and public
utilities, reduce the flow capacity of the canal.
d) Land subsidence
Rapid urbanization along with uncontrolled and
over-extraction either shallow or deep
groundwater, leads to coninuous subsidence of
the ground surface especially in the northern
part of Jakarta. Its not only caused by the lack
or limited raw water supply, but also the limited
of the management and supervision of the
groundwater abstraction
e) The limited management, guidance and
supervision to the people
The flood peaks and damages may continue to
increase mainly because of the humans
activities in the upper-watershed and in the
flood-plain.The government effort to organize,
to guide and supervise for all of the people
activities is very weak. So the amount of flood
discharge is getting bigger, the lowering of the
ground level is worse, and the properties of the
people that are threatened by the flood
inundation which located in the flood-plain is
also increased. On the other hand, the
performance of the physical infrastructure is
weakening, so the flood problems get worse.
f) The lack of community understanding
The people in the flood-plain and in the
watershed have an important role to overcome
the flood problems. But the fact, people who
especially live in the flood-plain dont realize
it, and have never been explained of the flood
risk. On the contrary the government by using

Proceedings of the 1st AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster

mass media expose various physical projects

plus the target that want to be achieved by
using hundreds trillions of rupiahs. The people
dont understand if the physical infrastructure
just creates a false protection, and the floodfree condition is only illusion. Related to it,
people feel no need to take an active role to
overcome the flood problems, because the
flood-free condition still can be achieved with
the completion of the physical projects that are
done by the government. Some terms which are
misguided but have been so popular such as
flood-free, gifts flooding, return period of
flood, etc played important role to mislead the
understanding of the people.
g) Emergency response and early warning system
The disasters such as flooding due to dike break
dont occur suddenly, but through the process,
such as starting from the overflow, scouring
and sliding of the bank, leakage, and piping.
For that reason it is necessary for emergency
response for flood prevention in the form of
various activities of an emergency nature, in
order the embankment not to be collapsed. To
anticipate the incident, emergency response
need to be done supported by flood forecasting
and early warning system and walk-through.
This efforts that are part of the operation and
maintenance activities which carried out in
force-account basis, seems not performed in
this era, because almost all the water resources
management
activities
including
flood
management from planning to implementation
and maintenance, done by the second party
through contracts.
h) The limited coordination
The occurrence of floods and efforts to
overcome problems are involving the
community and various agencies and regions.
Various efforts to overcome the issues of
prevention in the form of physical activity,
performed by each agency and territory,
without a unified plan and are based on a clear
division of authority. As well as on efforts to
flood prevention/emergency response.

3. EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF

FLOOD IN JAKARTA UP TO NOW

Yogyakarta, 22-23 January 2014

Various physical infrastructures have been built

such as: urban drainage system, polder, pumps,
sluice, river improvement, flood-way, and flood
dike, which were done mostly by the government
since the Dutch era. Urban drainage system was
constructed so that the rain water flows smoothly
into the canals and rivers; embankment or dike was
built to prevent flood in the flood-plain due to
overflowing of the river; reservoirs or situ and
flood-ways were built to reduce flood in the river to
overflow into the flood-plain; and channel
improvement of the rivers in order to enlarge the
capacity so it can reduce the flood in the floodplain. Various physical infrastructures are designed
based on the discharge of a particular flood;
drainage system for the return period of 2-5 years
of flood, whereas for the flood control system for
the return period of 50-100 years of flood.
Although operation and maintenance was done
well, the capacity of the various physical
infrastructures still have limitations and cannot
guarantee a protected flood-plain can be flood-free.
For example, if the dike of Ciliwung River was
planned to overcome the 100 years flood in the
amount of 600 m3/sec, then for every year the
chances of a flood equal to or greater than 600
m3/sec is at 1%. As well as the drainage which was
planned for 2 years flood, then for every year, the
chances of inundation caused by the channel
capacity exceeded, is 50%. Therefore every year
there is always possibility of flood that excess
design flood discharge, so that the flood-plain areas
are still prone to flood and inundation. The fact is
the operation and maintenance activities are
inadequate, so the vulnerability is even greater.
Nevertheless there has been no effort to anticipate
the flood if it exceeds the design flood discharge,
including efforts to suppress the number of the
disaster/loss. The loss suffered by the people due to
floods is increasing from year to year, indicating
that the public has not understood and realized it.
Flood phenomena in 1996, 2002, 2007, and the last
in January 2013, showed that the magnitude of the
disaster and the loss due to floods still rising. Based
on the media coverage, there is a judgment that the
problem occurred because of inadequate physical
infrastructures that have been built, therefore
cannot reduce moreover to overcome the problem
completely. In connection with that, the
government will soon implement some physical
activities at cost of tens to hundreds of trillions
rupiahs that are considered "highly effective" to
tackle the problem of flooding, and Jakarta is

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Proceedings of the 1st AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster

expected to be free from flood and inundation. The

activities
include:
diversion/interconnection
Ciliwung-EFC; normalization of Pesanggrahan,
Angke, Sunter, and Ciliwung; Ciawi dam
construction; construction of MPDT, and GSW.
Interconnection Ciliwung-EFC, MPDT, and GSW
which require relatively very large cost are
incidental activities, and not through the feasibility
study according to the valid procedures; thus the
effectiveness and feasibility as the flood and
inundation countermeasures in Jakarta are very
doubtful. The idea of developing MPDT just copied
from other counties, while GSW seems to imitate
what was done in the Netherlands. In a feasibility
study prepared in 1996, plan to build Ciawi Dam
has been declared unfeasible.
Some of the above incidental physical activities,
besides not feasible both technically, economically,
and environmentally, are intended to overcome the
flood due to overflow of rivers and a flood tide
from the sea, and has not touched the inundation
problems due to the local rain. Nevertheless it has
shown that the government is seriously committed
to fight all out and extraordinarily against natural
phenomena, in order to eliminate the problems of
flood in Jakarta.

4. NEED FOR PARADIGM SHIFT IN FLOOD

MANAGEMENT
Various physical activities of flood control have
been implemented in various countries around the
world, are built on a certain design flood discharge
and not for the biggest flood (Probable Maximum
Flood/PMF), so the chances of a catastrophic flood
are still open when the discharge is greater than the
design flood discharge. The disaster and loss
become larger when people do not understand the
performance of the drainage and flood control
infrastructure, and do not understand the risks of
living in a flood-plain. Various countries around the
world have proven that physical activities are
powerless to fight against natural phenomenon
completely. For example, the United States "got
confused" after the Mississippi and Missouri rivers
levee that was built for 100 year flood discharge; it
fell apart due to the 500 year flood in 1993.
Realizing that physical infrastructures only create
pseudo-protection for the people living in the flood
plain and cannot change and ensure a flood-free
flood-plain, even disasters and losses suffered by
the community are greater when there is a flood
that exceeds the design flood discharge; hence since
the last decade, it has awakened a collective

consciousness of many nations around the world,

such as:
a) World Water Forum (WWF) III in Kyoto in
2003 has resulted a mutual agreement that
Floods are natural phenomena which can never
be fully controlled and so we must learn to live
with them. Flood-free conditions are only an
illusion. A comprehensive and integrated
approach needs to tackle the problem of flood,
so that the utilization of the land in the floodplain can be optimal and disasters/floods can be
as small as possible. The overall effort is an
innovation of combination of structural
/physical
and
non-structural/non-physical
effort, which are based on the people
participation.
b) In line with the agreement in that world level
forum above, the World Meteorological
Organization with the Global Water Partnership
(WMO-GWP) have issued a publication on
Tools for Integrated Flood Management (IFM).
According to them, IFM is a process that
promotes an integrated, rather than fragmented
approach to flood management. It integrates
land and water resources development in a river
basin, within the context of Integrated Water
Resources Management (IWRM), with a view
to maximizing the efficient use of flood-plains
and to minimize loss of life. The Effort is a
combination of structural and non-structural
effort which is an integral part/integrated with
the management of water resources in one
river basin. Non-structural efforts which
include flood-plain management/land-use, by
regulating and controlling the development of
land in the flood-plain in such a way, so that the
amount of loss or disaster when there is flood
inundation can be as small as possible; as well
as flood proofing and flood fighting which are
supported accurately by monitoring and early
warning systems.
c) To overcome flood problems, since hundreds
years ago the Dutch government has built
physical infrastructure of flood control, which
included Great Sea Wall and the river
embankment, with the level of protection is
relatively high (1.000 to 10.000 years flood).
Referring to the flood in 1995, the Dutch
government realized that the infrastructure has
limited capacity and cannot guarantee the
flood-plain to be immune to flood. For that
reason, in 1998 it has been prepared Rhine
Atlas which is a map of flood-plain which is
prone to flood, in order to remind the people

Proceedings of the 1st AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster

that although there are physical infrastructures

of flood control, the people who live in floodplain should remain alert and aware that they
live in the vulnerable region and risky to be
flooded.
5. NATIONAL
POLICY
FOR
WATERRELATED DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Law No. 7/2004 on Water Resources has mandated
the need for the integration of all three aspects of
water resources management, which includes
aspects of conservation, utilization, and control of
the destructive force of water. In this case the force
of water is included flood. Controlling force of
water include the prevention, mitigation and
recovery, with the emphasis on prevention and
involving the community. Plan arranged in an
integrated of pattern as a framework for water
resources management in one river basin or river
teritory. Prevention efforts include a combination of
activities that overall physical activity/structure and
non-physical/non-structure, with the emphasis on
non-physical activities. Prevention efforts aimed at
minimizing disasters/losses and not to prevent
100% the flood problem. Community involvement,
especially for non-physical activity is particularly
important given since the main source of flooding
problems are due to community activities.
Therefore, the government needs to make the
regulation, guidance, supervision and control,
which should indeed be their major task.
National policies in order to overcome the problem
of flood in Indonesia were mandated by Law No.
7/2004 on Water Resources, has been in line with
the concept of IFM, which is a new paradigm that
becomes the world deal.
6. . CONCLUSIONS
6.1 Jakarta is the capital of the Republic of
Indonesia which grows and develops in the flood
plain which is prone to flood. Flood problems
continue to increase in line with population growth,
economic growth, environmental degradation and
the climate change.
6.2 Its not only caused by static and dynamic
behavior of the nature, but the flood problem
mainly caused by various community activities
both in the flood-plain and in the watershed that are
less or not in line with the efforts to prevent flood
problems; its as a result of lack of regulation,
coaching, supervision and control of the
government.

Yogyakarta, 22-23 January 2014

6.3 Various attempts have been made, but still give

priority to physical activities or project approach
and do not touch the various problems which are
mainly caused by human activities. Therefore the
problem/loss/catastrophe suffered by people not
being reduced.
6.4 To answer the public's obsession to make
Jakarta flood free, the government has launched a
development
program
of
the
physical
infrastructures costs hundreds of trillions rupiah,
without realizing that any forms of physical activity
will only create a false sence of protection, and
flood-free condition is an illusion. The Dutch that
has built GSW with very high flood control level
has also been aware of it and has warned their
citizens who live in the flood-plain to remain alert.
6.5 False assumption that Jakarta will be free of
flood by the construction of physical infrastructures
has also eliminated the public awareness of the
risks as well as the adaptation to the possibility of
inundation/flood. In addition, efforts to overcome
the flood problems are thought to be the
responsibility of the government.
6.6 Current paradigm to overcome the flood
problems is a win - win solution between natural
phenomena with human activities to utilize the
flood-plain. The effort is a combination of physical
and non-physical activities that are an integral part
in the management of water resources in one river
basin (integrated flood management) which based
on community participation. The target of the
efforts is to suppress the amount of loss/disaster
caused by flood as small as possible, and cannot
eliminate the flooding problem 100 %. A law
No.7/2004 mandates on Water Resources
Management has been in line with the new
paradigm.
7. RECOMENDATIONS.

7.1 Efforts to tackle the problems of flood and

inundation in Jakarta should be reviewed and
improved by using a new paradigm as mandated by
Law No.7/2004 on Water Resources. Efforts made
in the form of a combination of physical and nonphysical activities as part of the integrated water
resource management in Ciliwung-Cisadane Sub
River Basin.
7.2. Society and all stakeholders who are involved
must implement the new paradigm, and stop
dreaming of flood-free condition which is
impossible. For that reason, all stakeholders should

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Proceedings of the 1st AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster

have a distinguished understanding of flood, flood

problems and efforts to overcome them. Some
terms such as flood-free, gifts flood, flood return
period, flood level, etc. that are misguided and
misleading, need to be clarified.
7.3. It is necessary to review or audit the existing
physical infrastructures regarding: the performance
of drainage systems and flood control systems,
updating the design flood discharge to anticipate
environmental changes and climate change, as well
as the anticipation of flood greater than the design
flood discharge.
7.4. Physical infrastructures is typically planned to
overcome the flood problem to a certain flood level,
and should be built based on technical, economic
and environmental analysis, with the basis of river
basin system; so that the accountability can be
justified. Therefore the incidental physical
infrastructures that raised with enormous costs,
needs to be reviewed. The idea to build a GSW that
refer to GSW in Netherlands should be noted that
the prevailing paradigm in the Netherlands has
already changed.
7.5. To ensure a good performance on the existing
drainage systems as well as flood control system
(on or under the same discharge conditions with the
design flood discharge), the operation and
maintenance activities, combined with the early
warning and flood fighting, should be carried out
properly.
7.6. To suppress the magnitude of the disaster or
loss when flood exceeds the design flood discharge,
the levee or dike structure which located in urban
areas should not be damaged or collapsed due to
overtoping.

7.7 Nonphysical activities as public domain,

consist of:
a) Utilization of flood-plain for housing, real
estate, office buildings, hotels, business
districts and other urban infrastructures are
adaptive and adjust to the possibility of flood
inundation, with flood proofing, restrictions on
use of the building, relocation, etc
b) Development in the upper-watershed should
follows the rules of spatial planning and proper
soil and water conservation, by building
infiltration wells, infiltration ponds, etc.
c) Restriction/termination of the use of the ground
water to prevent land subsidence in Jakarta

d) Establishment of canals, rivers and reservoirs

right of way.
e) Secure the canals, rivers and reservoirs right of
way free from either permanent or simple
residence.
f) Proper waste management.
g) Flood emergency response/flood fighting which
are supported by monitoring and accurate
forecasting and early warning system..
7.8 Government should not only build, operate, and
maintain the physical infrastructure, but also to
carry out their main task in the form of regulation,
guidance, supervision and control of all nonphysical activities that become public domain. It
also facilitates emergency response efforts and
forecasting and early warning; facilitate waste
management, as well as provide sufficient raw
water supply from surface water sources.

Proceedings of the 1st AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Natural Disaster

REFERENCES
Firdaus Ali (2012). Multi Purpose Deep Tunnel
(MPDT), An Integrated Solution for Flood Control,
RAW Water, Sewerage, Road Tunnel, and Public
Utilities Shaft for Jakarta Metropolitan.
PT. Indra Karya (2011). Detail Design Floodway
Ciliwung EFC, Final Report.
Republic of Indonesia, Law No. 7/2004. Water
Resources Management
Sawarendro (2010). Sistem Polder & Tanggul
Laut, Penanganan Banjir Secara Madani di
Jakarta. ILWI.

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Siswoko Sastrodihardjo (2012). Upaya Mengatasi

Masalah Banjir Secara Menyeluruh/Comprehensive
Flood Management, Yayasan Badan Penerbit
Pekerjaan Umum, PT Mediatama Saptakarya.
WMO-GWP (March 2008). A Tool for Integrated
Flood Management, Associated Programme on
Flood Management.