IWRM Indonesia

An important aim of the BMBF-funded “Integrated Water Resources Management project in Gunung Kidul, Java, Indonesia” was the development and implementation of appropriate and sustainable solutions to provide drinking water in sufficient quantity and quality for the population. Apart from the fact that water availability in dry season is very low, water quality in this region is especially vulnerable due to the karstic underground and its poor filtration capacity for pollutants. Within the IWRM project, our subproject concentrated on water treatment.

Karst region Gunung Sewu in dry season and rainy season

Within the project a thorough water quality monitoring using e.g. Colilert®-18-system (IDEXX) for detection of coliform bacteria and E.coli as well as molecular biological methods (PCR, DGGE, PFGE and sequencing) for population analysis was implemented.

Based on our results, a sort of multi barrier concept was chosen for water treatment, consisting of low-cost solutions that were easy to operate and maintain. Together with our colleagues from the Chemical Institute Pforzheim (CIP) GmbH, we developed a field laboratory that was installed in an oversea container. Currently, the four different water treatment technologies included in the fieldlaboratory (sand filtration, UV disinfection, chlorination and ceramic filtration) are tested at the county hospital of Gunung Kidul to find the most appropriate (combination of) technology.

Field laboratory installed at Hospital in Wonosari. The picture explains the water treatment technologies in Indonesian language as the laboratory is situated next to the future public parking for the hospital.

In cooperation with the FGK Forschungsinstitut für Anorganische Werkstoffe – Glas und Keramik GmbH in Höhr-Grenzhausen, we are currently working on a ceramic filter for household water treatment based on the filters promoted by the NGO “Potters for Peace”. This filter will be produced with locally available material in local potteries.

Collection of local clays for analysis and burning tests

You will find more information about the project on: http://www.iwrm-indonesien.de/