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| Wastewater Gardens® Water Education
& Awareness |
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The world-wide shortage of potable water
will be an increasing focus of attention in the coming
decades. One of the primary issues to be addressed is
people’s use of the world’s limited supply
of clean, drinking water for all water needs.
Yayasan IDEP & the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation
are dedicated to increase public awareness and understanding
about the causes of worldwide degradation of freshwater.
The inadequate treatment of sewage has led to the waste
of freshwater and pollution of our groundwater, rivers,
lakes and coastal marine areas. This has led to health
disasters, as pollution of drinking water is a leading
source of disease especially in the developing world.
It has also led to environmental degradation all over
the world. And it wastes the valuable nutrients needed
to maintain soil fertility in the long-term.
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| “A severe water crisis is
looming for big cities along the north coast of Java island
including Jakar-ta, Semarang in Central Java and Surabaya
in East Java. Jakarta will face acute water problems in
the coming years, because of declining ground water reserves
and increasing levels of pollution, which comes from chemical
substances discharged by factories in the city and human
feces. With 12 million people in Jakarta now, the city
produces around 3,000 tons of feces per day, or more than
1 million tons per year. With the growing population here,
the contamination will become even worse in the coming
years. The key is the local governments and local people
who must be made aware that they must conserve nature
to ensure sustainable water supplies.” |
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| Indonesian State Minister for
the Environment Nabiel Makarim |
| Source : Moch. N. Kurniawan, the Jakarta
Post, Jakarta, Sept 24, 2002 |
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An important aspect of our work is increasing
the ecological awareness of local communities and government
about the issues of water conservation, water and environmental
protection. |
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| To achieve this we: |
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• Develop,
design and publish culturally appropriate public awareness
information
• Hold workshops
at the community-level
• Conduct workshops
and seminars at local Universities
• Work with
Government Officials and exchange information &
understanding about these issues
• Construct
Wastewater Gardens® in key public areas as educational
tools
• Educate &
involve local communities during the development of
Wastewater Gardens® projects |
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| Wastewater Gardens®, and the entire
field of constructed wetlands, offers a positive vision
of a more intelligent, sustainable and healthy way of
dealing with our water supply and recycling our “waste
water”.
The systems are generally small enough, and implemented
on-site, so that people can understand the connection
between their water use and the proper means of using
their wastewater for beauty and value, instead of unconsciously
adding to ill-health of people and the environment.
Wastewater Gardens® can be a valuable tool in educating
people and governments about the wise use of our water
resources. They can also be used as a “living
classroom” where people can quite tangibly and
directly see that working with nature is more economical,
more beautiful and more sustainable than using machinery
and chemicals; or continuing with “business as
usual” and adding to our global problems. |
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| ©2004 Wastewater Gardens® PCRF • www.pcrf.org
• Indonesia Rep. Yayasan IDEP : www.idepfoundation.org |
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