“LAND SUBSIDENCE IN JAKARTA”
I. Introduction
Jakarta is the capital city of the
Republic of Indonesia with a population
of about 10 million people, inhabiting an
area of about 650.40 km2. Jakarta is
located on the lowland of the northern
coast of the West Java province. The
area is relatively flat, with
topographical slopes ranging between 0-
2 degrees in the northern and central
parts, and between 0-5 degrees in the
southern part. The southern–most area of
Jakarta has an altitude of about 50 m
above mean sea level. According to
Rimbaman and Suparan (1999), has five
main landforms,
1. volcanic alluvial
landforms, which are located
in the southern part;
2. landforms of marine-origin,
which are found in
northern part;
3. beach ridge landforms, which
are located in the northwest
and northeast parts;
4. swamp and mangrove-swamp
landforms, which are
encountered in the coastal
fringe; and
5. former river channels
It should also be noted that there are
about 13 natural and artificial rivers
flowing through Jakarta, of which the
the main rivers, such as Ciliwung, Sunter,
Pesanggrahan, Grogol and their
tributaries, form the main drainage
system of Jakarta. Jakarta basin consists
of a 200 to 300 m thick sequence of
Quaternary deposits which overlies
Tertiary sediments (Yong et al., 1995).
The top sequence is thought to be the
base of the groundwater basin. The
fan Quaternary sequence can be further
divided into three major units, which, in
ascending order are: a sequence of
Pleistocene marine and non-marine
the sediments, a late Pleistocene volcanic
fan deposit, and Holocene marine and
floodplain deposits. Land subsidence is
not a new phenomenon for Jakarta.
According to the Local Mines Agency of
Jakarta, over the period of 1982 to 1997,
subsidence ranging from 20 to 200 cm
was evident in several places in Jakarta.
 The occurrence of land subsidence in
Jakarta was realized for the first time in
1926. Evidence for subsidence was
based on repeated leveling
measurements conducted in the northern
part of Jakarta. Unfortunately this
investigation of land subsidence using
leveling was not continued.
Starting in 1978, the impact of land
subsidence in Jakarta could be seen in
several forms, such as the cracking of
permanent constructions located around the
center of the Jakarta area (along Thamrin
street), the wider expansion of flooding
areas, the lowering of the ground water
level, and increased inland sea water
intrusion.
Although many people believe that land
subsidence in Jakarta is a real phenomenon,
up to the present time, there has been neither
definitive detail nor comprehensive
information about the characteristics and
pattern of land subsidence in the Jakarta area.
The resulted land subsidence will also then
affect the urban development plan and
process. Land subsidence resulted as side
effects of urban development have also been
reported for several cities. At this time the
author’s will be discusses the characteristics
of land subsidence in Jakarta as observed by
the geodetics like leveling surveys, extenso
meter measurements, ground water level
observations, and GPS (Global Positioning
System) surveys. The prediction of ground
subsidence, based on models incorporating
geological and hydrological parameters of
Jakarta, has also been investigated by a few
researchers. The GPS surveys were
conducted by the Department of Geodetic
Engineering, Institute of Technology
Bandung. In the case of the leveling surveys,
the first two surveys were performed by the
Local Surveying and Mapping Agency of
Jakarta, and the last one was conducted by
the Local Mines Agency of Jakarta. The
information on land subsidence obtained
from those leveling and GPS surveys is
discussed by taking into account the
geological and hydrological setting of the
Jakarta basin.
II.Factor Causing Land
Subsidence in Jakarta
Basically, there are many factors
that influence the decrease of land in
Jakarta, some factors causing the decrease of
land in Jakarta are as follows:
1.The exploitation of groundwater on a large
scale
Jakarta as the economic center as
well as the government has succeeded in
making it a city of interest from residents
from other places to come to Jakarta, the reasonable if there was a decrease of land
phenomenon of urbanization has always in the area in Jakarta.
been the annual agenda of this city, so the
high population in Jakarta will automatically
also cause increased water demand, and one 4. Compaction of young land in Jakarta
of water which is used to meet the needs of The presence of young land
Jakarta residents is ground water, because compaction in Jaarta is also the cause of
the calculation of clean water supply by the increasing phenomenon of land
pdam to date only reaches about 60% of the subsidence in Jakarta.
total population in Jakarta, so that the
fulfillment of clean water needs is predicted
to come from ground water, even BPLHD 5.Tectonic activity
DKI Jakarta said that nowadays the
hospitality industry, malls and apartments In addition to several factors
have used ancient ground water that is teens mentioned above, tectonic activity has also
contributed to the phenomenon of land
thousands of years, but it is very dangerous
if done because it can drown the city of
Jakarta. Related to the massive use of water
there are also cases that are currently being
investigated ie the indication of groundwater
theft through unlicensed groundwater
drilling wells.

2. Lack of water catchmen area

Infrastructure development in the
form of office buildings, shopping centers
and hotels as well as new dwellings
increased the transfer of significant land
functions, many water catchment areas and
open green areas have now changed
functions, resulting in a lot of water in
Jakarta that can no longer seep into the soil,
so a lot of water that just run off or just
inundated certain areas because it stuck the subsidence in Jakarta.
concave area but also can not seep into the
soil.
3. Building loading III. Impact of Land
Economic and business activities Subsidence in Jakarta
and administrative demands massive
development, no doubt high-rise buildings The continuing decline in land in
for office and residential and shopping Jakarta has caused some negative impacts
centers quantitatively increased in number, in several locations in Jakarta, some of the
this will certainly increase the loading by negative impacts that have occurred are:
buildings in mainland Jakarta, so it is
1.Cracking and subsidence infrstucture
2. Tilted Buliding was established by Jakarta governor Anis
Baswedan who is in charge of supervision
3. The wider expansion of the inland and
coastal flooding areas and enforcement of regulations through
raids conducted on hotels and tall buildings
4. Bridge lowering gradually and routinely at least until 21
5. Lowering the quality of living environment March 2018.
and life (e.g health and sanitation condition) 3. Cooperation Ministry of Public Works
6. The existence of seawater intrusion due and Public Housing (PUPR) in July 2017
to the large reduction of ground wate with Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) to overcome the
IV. Efforts that have been groundwater decline, this cooperation is
done because Japan is considered to have
made succeeded in addressing the same problems
in Tokyo. Aliya, ZRF-deik finance, July 29,
2017)
There have been several actions
that have been made by some parties 4. The signing of MoU between Jakarta
regarding the handling of land subsidence in Governor Jokowi and Rector of Universitas
Jakarta, some of the steps that have been Gadjah Mada on September 24, 2013, which
taken include: is to inject water into the soil up to a depth
of 200m (detiknews.com 2013).
1. The SK Governor of DKI Number 129 of
2010, which mandates every business and 5. Restrictions on groundwater extraction by
commercial area of water must perform 5R
- Reduce : water savings
- Reuse : Reuse of water that has been
used for other purposes ie
- Recycle : Water recycling, usually done
for boilers
- Recharge: Charging ground water, for
example with the Utilization of rainwater
during the rainy season by making
absorption wells
- Recovery: recovery, for example when
industry or high rise buildings do
dewatering, then they must do water
injection into ground water.
2. Establish an Integrated Supervision Team
Provision of Wells for Installation of Waste
Management and Ground Water Utilization
(Tim Pengawasan Terpadu Penyediaan
Sumur Resapan Instalasi Pengelolaan
Limbah dan Pemanfaatan Air Tanah) which
the Environmental Management and Ground
Management Agency (BPLHD) through
zora deep wheel program aimed at reducing
the high exploitation of groundwater.
Soebijoto, H. (2010, October 2). DKI
reduces the taking of ground
water.KOMPAS.COM.Retrived from
https:// Megapolitan .kompas.com
6. Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta
improves clean water pipeline program in
some areas through PT PAM LYonnaise
Jaya, PT Aetra Air Jakarta and PAM Jaya.
6. Tighten the building permit for high-rise
building as an effort to reduce the loading by
the building.
7. Issuing the "3M" program is a regulation
requiring the owner of a building or building
with a specific area and height to conduct a
water-absorbing program, injecting water,
and maintaining water absorb water here
means creating a water absorption area with
predetermined size and stickiness, injecting
meaning they have to do periodic injection,
and maintaining water is committed that
they do not make groundwater a primary
source to meet their needs.

V. Efforts to Reduce Land

subsidence in Jakarta:
1. Improved spatial arrangement in DKI
Jakarta as well as Return of green open
space function as water absorption area
firmly and massively.
2. Proposing the creation of large water
ponds through the use of underneath large
streets such as flyovers, toll roads and non-
toll roads are dug deep and the ponds are
drained into sandstone layers to be absorbed
by sandstone layers.
3. The Provincial Government shall
cooperate with relevant parties to combat
illegal wells and to impose strict sanctions
on the owners and the producers of the
illegal wells.
4. Conducting water conservation movement
in both upstream and downstream areas.
5. Conducting campaigns on water
conservation and environmental movement
by involving young people through schools
and campuses in DKI Jakarta.