Development of Underground Water Extraction System for Karst Regions with Adapted Technologies and Operating System – Pilot Plant in Java, Indonesia

AbstractIn many developing countries, despite of much national and international effort to improve the water supply situation, the technical and ecological as well as economical solutions are still insufficient. The situation in karst regions is even more severe due to the extreme climatic and hydrogeological conditions. In karst areas, a large percentage of the precipitation rapidly infiltrates from the surface into the karst rock. The water resources are therefore mainly stored in the karst aquifers as well as in underground river systems. Because of lacking storage possibilities on the surface, bad accessibility of the underground resources and often long running dry seasons, serious water shortages occur. Against this backdrop, an interdisciplinary research group of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), together with industry partners, concentrates intensively on the development and implementation of concepts and technologies for an adapted water resources management in karst regions of Southeast Asia. This paper focuses on the Indonesian-German joint project for the development of an underground hydropower pilot plant in a karst region on Java, Indonesia, which is, from German side, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). After years of research and construction works facing several setbacks due to earthquakes and flood events, since mid of 2011 the plant is operated continuously under the responsibility of an Indonesian operational team