He explained that the basic human needs, including economic needs, give them no choice but to exploit natural resources, such as massive river exploitation. As a result, it causes the imbalance of river catchment as well as the occurrence of water quality and morphological issues.

"If humans didn’t exist, the catchment would show no change. The catchment would remain the same and even the forest area would increase. However, due to humans existence and their survival activities, the exploitation of natural resources in the catchment is carried out," he delivered in online public lecture of the Master Program of Water Resources Management, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering (FTSL) ITB themed "Integrated Water Resources Management: Managing Catchment and Controlling the Runoff" on Tuesday, April 27, 2021.

Furthermore, Ir. Arthur explained that the root causes of river issues can be categorized into two cases, the issue of water quality and the issue of water quantity. These issues can occur due to human activities that disrupt the river catchment, such as inadequate river waste disposal management, defective Waste Water Management Installation (IPAL), low public awareness of waste and uncontrolled land use of catchment areas.

One of the initiative efforts that has been taken by the government to solve these issues is through the regulations on Law No. 17 of 2019 on Water Resources.

"To tackle the issues, regulations regarding water management are required to control the activities on water and rivers. Therefore, we have Law No. 17 of 2019 on Water Resources that covers 10 scopes of water resources," he elaborated.

The scope of the regulation of water resources includes state control and people's rights to water, duties and authorities of natural resources management, natural resource management, natural resources licensing, natural resources information systems, empowerment and supervision, funding, community rights and obligations towards natural resources, community participation, and coordination. The expected outcome from this regulation is that the Indonesian can comply with and perform all the rules to resolve the water issues.

Ir. Arthur also suggested some ways to prevent and control these issues, such as conservation activities, enhancement of the participation of all stakeholders in an integrated manner, education for students regarding environmental awareness, especially water ecosystems, rearrangement of drainage systems, and the improvement of river capacity.

Reporter: Nur Rama Adamas (TPB, FTSL 2020)
Translator: Naffisa Adyan Fekranie, Oceanography 2019