| Full name | Bridging Surface and Groundwater for Equitable and Inclusive Water Accounting in Indonesia |
|---|---|
| Period | Inception workshop 4–5 May 2026 |
| Partners | Bappenas; Australian Water Partnership (DFAT); CSIRO; Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney; Universitas Gadjah Mada; IPB University; CRPG |
| Location | Serayu and Opak river basins, Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta |
Serayu-Opak water accounting pilot is a research project, formally titled Bridging Surface and Groundwater for Equitable and Inclusive Water Accounting in Indonesia, that is testing an integrated framework for accounting for surface water and groundwater in the Serayu and Opak river basins of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta. Its inception workshop was held in Jakarta on 4 and 5 May 2026, convened jointly by the national development planning ministry (Bappenas), the Australian Water Partnership under the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, CSIRO, the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney, Universitas Gadjah Mada, IPB University and the Center for Regulation, Policy and Governance (CRPG).[1]
CRPG co-hosted the inception workshop and is responsible for the project's desktop institutional analysis, scheduled for September 2026; the other partners lead, among other things, the groundwater baseline and the work on gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI).[1:1][2][3] The project is presented as a pilot for a national rollout of water accounting in Indonesia, set within the water self-sufficiency priority of the 2025–2029 medium-term development plan, and it operates inside the framework of the water resources law of Indonesia.[1:2][4]
Discussion at the inception workshop, as reported on crpg.id, centred on the national planning frame, the physical and institutional profile of the pilot basin, a broadened reading of inclusion, and the loss of springs to riverbed mining in the Progo sub-basin.[1:3]
The keynote of the workshop's second day, given by Bappenas's water resources directorate, placed the project within the 2025–2045 long-term plan and the 2025–2029 medium-term plan, under which water self-sufficiency is Priority Programme 12 within the national priority on food, energy and water self-sufficiency. The presentation projected a 31 per cent rise in water demand and reported that most groundwater samples exceeded pollutant thresholds.[4:1]
Three consequences for the pilot were drawn in discussion: its outputs should be expressed in terms of the National Water Security Index (IKAN) used by Bappenas; its recommendations should reach into the 2030–2034 planning cycle; and it has to take account of the consolidation of river-basin territories, reported as a reduction from 128 to 124 with 64 moving to central authority.[4:2]
The pilot area combines two river-basin territories (wilayah sungai). According to the profile presented by the river basin agency, Balai Besar Wilayah Sungai Serayu-Opak, Serayu Bogowonto has national strategic status and covers 7,380 km², and Progo Opak Serang has cross-provincial status because it spans Central Java and Yogyakarta and covers 4,990 km². Together they cover 12,370 km², about nine per cent of Java, with 15.22 million inhabitants in fifteen regencies and cities.[5]
The agency reported flood-prone sub-districts, a supply deficit in Progo Opak Serang, extensive critical land, heavy volcanic sediment loads, and reservoir sedimentation at Mrica. It counted 851 springs, seven underground rivers in the Gunungkidul karst, and a dense network of community institutions, including 474 water-user farmers' associations (P3A). It also reported that sub-national water resources programmes were less than half synchronised with the basin-level water resources plan.[5:1]
The presentation closed by mapping the project's work to the components of Law 17/2019 on water resources.[5:2] That law defines water resources management as the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of water resources conservation, water resources utilisation and the control of water's destructive power, and separately requires central and regional governments to run a water resources information system and to empower stakeholders and water resources institutions.[6]
Participants from sub-national government argued that equity in the water sector has three dimensions, gender, poverty and disability, rather than gender alone. They reported that in several local water forums in Yogyakarta women were strongly represented, while participants from other regions described the opposite pattern.[2:1] The project's GEDSI partner introduced a spectrum running from gender-insensitive to transformative approaches, and the project adopted the transformative end as its aim. Participants recommended that the project use the inclusion reporting template already kept by the provincial offices for women's empowerment and child protection, and that it hold small village-level focus groups in local language.[2:2]
The loss of springs to galian C mining, the extraction of sand, stone and gravel from rivers, was raised as the most pressing local concern, particularly in the Progo sub-basin. Sub-national participants asked for recommendations that name specific spring zones needing a moratorium, the conditions to attach to existing mining permits in sensitive areas, and recovery measures for springs not yet lost.[3:1] The account on crpg.id framed the issue as one of permitting rather than a gap in scientific knowledge, a point that links the pilot to mining regulation as well as to groundwater regulation.[3:2] The groundwater baseline, led by Universitas Gadjah Mada's department of geological engineering and due in September 2026, was to map priority wells, springs and recharge zones, and the project planned to connect the roughly fifty-four monitoring wells of the Yogyakarta-Sleman groundwater basin to the accounting framework.[3:3]
K33[E] "CRPG co-hosts inception workshop on water accounting for Indonesia", crpg.id, 11 May 2026. https://crpg.id/crpg-co-hosts-inception-workshop-on-water-accounting-for-indonesia/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
[E] "Beyond gender: why equity in Indonesia's water sector is a triad", crpg.id, 14 May 2026. https://crpg.id/beyond-gender-why-equity-in-indonesias-water-sector-is-a-triad/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
[E] "Once a spring is mined, it doesn't come back: voices from the Progo sub-basin", crpg.id, 16 May 2026. https://crpg.id/once-a-spring-is-mined-it-doesnt-come-back-voices-from-the-progo-sub-basin/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
[E] "From RPJMN to river basins: how "water self-sufficiency" anchors the Serayu-Opak pilot", crpg.id, 12 May 2026. https://crpg.id/from-rpjmn-to-river-basins-how-water-self-sufficiency-anchors-the-serayu-opak-pilot/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
[E] "Serayu and Opak in numbers: a pilot basin of 12,370 km², 15 million people, and 851 springs", crpg.id, 13 May 2026. https://crpg.id/serayu-and-opak-in-numbers-a-pilot-basin-of-12-370-km2-15-million-people-and-851-springs/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
[P] Undang-Undang Nomor 17 Tahun 2019 tentang Sumber Daya Air, Pasal 1 (definition of
Pengelolaan Sumber Daya Air), Pasal 54 (water resources information system) and Pasal 55
(empowerment). regulation_id UU_17_2019. ↩︎