Surakarta, MC – Due to the innovation owned by the residents of Glintung Village, Gg IV RW 23 regarding the Water Saving Movement (Gemar) which has brought the name of Malang City to be heard in the international world, the Mayor of Malang, H. Moch. Anton, received an invitation from United Cities And Local Governments Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC) in Surakarta to be one of the speakers at the UCLG ASPAC event Culture Forum 2016 "Culture In Local Planning," Thursday (27/10).
Malang City was invited to the event because Malang City is considered to have... good practices related to the implementation Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) so that it is hoped that they will be able to share information and experiences about development issues and also the role of local government in implementing the Global Agenda. Sustainable Development Goals & New Urban Agenda.
By taking the theme 'Making Connectivity and Impact on the Ground: Water Banking Movement,', the man who is often called Abah Anton, explained various stories about Gemar, starting from the background of the emergence of the movement to solution tips in dealing with various obstacles to implementation and its impact on the lives of the surrounding community.
"The impact is certainly not only on improving social life, but also improving the economic life of the Glintung community because their village has become a destination for tourists to conduct comparative studies and replication studies," said Abah.
Together with the Mayor of Banda Aceh, the Mayor of Solo, and the Mayor of Jambi, Abah Anton presented the Gemar program with the hope that the program, which was quite successful in dealing with flooding problems, could also be passed on to other local governments.
"I hope that other districts/cities that also have problems in overcoming flooding issues can imitate and implement this Gemar program in their respective areas," he hoped.
One of the efforts to overcome flooding effectively is to promote the Water Saving Movement. This movement is carried out by making injection wells. The system is that rainwater will enter the well and will be absorbed into the ground so that the water reserves in the ground will increase. The implementation of this injection well is an effort to conserve water in maintaining the availability of groundwater.
Injection wells were built as many as five units with concrete material with a diameter of one meter and a depth of four meters. The bottom of this well is given gravel as a filter for puddles of water that enter the ground. If in a closed condition, it can hold 4.000 liters of water.
Meanwhile, according to Dr. Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi who is the Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC, this activity is a forum for UCLG ASPAC to communicate and interact directly with cities and districts in Indonesia in sharing information related to development and the role of local governments to support democratic local governments and promote their values, goals and interests through a cooperation forum between local governments in the Asia Pacific.
On that occasion, Bernadia also promoted in front of other regional heads and representatives of ASPAC countries that Malang City was a nominee together with Jakarta City in the event. Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation which was held in December this year. The innovation of the Water Saving Movement is expected to provide enlightenment and motivation for other regions to continue working to advance their respective regions. (say/yon)
