Bali Aquifers and Population increases....

AB, if you search Google with "groundwater Bali", or "ground water Bali" there are many articles on this subject.

It's a serious problem here and according to many reports, the rising salinity levels will make the water unusable by 2015 or 2025, depending on which report you read.

Originally Posted by matsaleh

AB, if you search Google with "groundwater Bali", or "ground water Bali" there are many articles on this subject.

It's a serious problem here and according to many reports, the rising salinity levels will make the water unusable by 2015 or 2025, depending on which report you read.

Holy *$&!. I will Google and read. Much thanks. -AB

Bali Discovery news had an article stating that Bali would have a very real water crisis by 2015. The development has to slow way down if not halt or we're all gonna go thirsty.

According to Jakarta Post and Bali News, Bali will be in "water crisis" mode in 2020.

The only solution I see proposed isn't, a higher water tax, which just means hotels will raise prices to cover it.

Is there a solution to this? It could be desalinization plants, but instead all I see are 3Are high population density tract homes. ("villas")

Is anyone freaked out by this, making alt plans?

If you own homes here, are you assuming in ten years they could be worthless.

etcetc All thoughts welcome. - AB

andrebaker77 YES I am freaked out about this. Sadly I have no backup plan. As long as the regencies don't want to go along with the Governor on a building moratorium I am afraid we will reach this crisis and it is truly worrisome. I do my best to conserve and use my dish water to water the garden, but that really is only a drop in the ocean.

Maybe all the hotels could pay for a desalinization plant?

I'm sure a desal plant takes a lot of electricity to run, Bali is already struggling for power. I think under ground water tanks, I can see the government making hotels & villas install them.

RicBali, do you "own" property here? Have a long term investment?

As one considering making a land investment (was thinking 10Are in sweet chill Mengwi, and build a traditional Balinese style home stay) suddenly Flores is looking way way more attractive.

It's weird how Bali will make you do stupid things (buy cash land you actually don't own in a place where you have no rights and the tap is about to run dry) but if I was considering a house in Key West, Florida (island 90 miles south of Miami, where we used to live) and heard in 10± years the water crisis will have arrived, there is just no way I'd buy.

Really curious to hear other's opinions/stories etc. -AB

Desal plants use a crazy amount of energy that Indo/Bali does not have, and unfortunately, they f the seas around them, as they return tons of salt to the ocean and change the marine environment.

That said, leader Saudi (all the Middle East is on the brink of a water crisis, Yemen is the first country in the world who's capital will go completely dry) has built many, and servicing half the country's water needs, and converting the plants to Solar. (makes you wonder about their true oil reserves to be doing that) But, in Bali, even if they do have the energy and initiative, they will scorch their surrounding seas with heavy salt contents.

Bring in tanks and supplying water, just do not see how that will survive in the long run. That's what people who live in Mojave and Joshua Tree Deserts (California) do, and there is a reason not many live there.

andrebaker, no I have never been brave enough to take the leap and buy land here. I guess I've just heard too many stories of it all going as* up.

Originally Posted by andrewbaker77

................

Is anyone freaked out by this, making alt plans?

If you own homes here, are you assuming in ten years they could be worthless.

No, I'm not freaked out, and I don't expect all homes to be worthless in 10 years. For sure, if many wells are sunk in the same area, the groundwater levels will go down, and for locations near the coast this may allow saltwater to come in. But the problem is very local, so if it s a problem in Canggu, it probably is not a problem at Tanah Lot, Tabanan, Mengwi, etc. And I think it is manageable by:
* encouraging the use of rainwater
* bringing town water supply into the problem areas
* raising the price paid for groundwater, and possibly making the price volume based
* perhaps by imposing various limits on develpment, amount of water used etc

So, I reckon just relax a bit - there is a bit of a problem, but there will be solutions and they won't be de-salination plants.

In rural Australia where water is in scant supply, most houses and farms have huge rain water tanks on the roofs. When the skies open up, the tanks are filled.

I don't know why Bali doesn't have the same, or do they? I can't say I've seen any here.

It seems such a waste, all that rain water going down the drains, not to mention the flooding caused by the loss of green space and the urban sprawl!

Originally Posted by ronb

No, I'm not freaked out, and I don't expect all homes to be worthless in 10 years. For sure, if many wells are sunk in the same area, the groundwater levels will go down, and for locations near the coast this may allow saltwater to come in. But the problem is very local, so if it s a problem in Canggu, it probably is not a problem at Tanah Lot, Tabanan, Mengwi, etc. And I think it is manageable by:
* encouraging the use of rainwater
* bringing town water supply into the problem areas
* raising the price paid for groundwater, and possibly making the price volume based
* perhaps by imposing various limits on develpment, amount of water used etc

So, I reckon just relax a bit - there is a bit of a problem, but there will be solutions and they won't be de-salination plants.

De sal plants have been discussed on here before Ron, and having had quite a bit of experience with them, am interested why you think they cannot be part of the solution?

Ricbali

Yeah, I used "" around own, as to me the freehold deal seems like total fiction. I can not imagine handing over massive amounts of cash to commit what is in essence an illegal act, but in the very least, an act where you have zero rights. It's like signing up to become a slave. (If I was to do a Balinese style property, I'd go long term lease on land and removable structures I can sell when the lease is up.) Just not to sure I want to commit 10 or 20 years to an island that is on the path to a water crisis. I grew up in Los Angeles, and remember old articles about how much worse traffic would get. Everyone said it was fiction. Now it's fact. Same math equation for water.

@goldminer
My understanding of de sal is that it thrashed the surrounding waters with a high salt content byproduct.

Originally Posted by andrewbaker77

@goldminer
My understanding of de sal is that it thrashed the surrounding waters with a high salt content byproduct.

Well, you have no understanding of desal at all!

not worried at all, got a natural waterfall in the backyard

I drink beer (this comes in from Java) and I never shower. No water, no problem! I will be easy to spot at the Saturday meeting at the Bonsai.

@goldminer, before you go all "!" on me.....

"The second cost is one of pollution. Removal of pure water from a salty source creates a concentrated waste stream called brine. Up to twice as salty as sea water, and often containing process chemicals such as chlorine, anti-scaling and anti-caking agents, this discharge can have a significant effect on marine life." (from the ecologist mag)

And besides, considering the time it takes to get a 1Kilometer road project approved I don't see a 100Billion dollar desal plant coming on line anytime soon.

gilbert, that's the best of solutions. -AB

It's no solution, but you asked if anyone was worried
well I am not..
just saying...why is it always 'foreigners/expats that try to find a solution...what about the ozon layer hole, still there or did that hype just blew over, ice melting raising the waterlevels..did it stop melting or is it just not important anymore...I am not ignoring that these 'problems' are there or were there, I think mother earth will be just fine, maybe it needs to whipe out the human race first (earthquackes/tsunamis), but she will be okey