Gempera Management Audience in Maringkik Island Village Discussing Clean Water Access

Maringkik Island Village is one of the villages located in East Lombok Regency, precisely in Keruak District next to Paremas Village and Tanjung Luar Village. Maringkek Island Village will become a partner and at the same time a pilot project of Gempera Foundation (Community Movement for Change and Peace) in accordance with Gempera’s vision and mission which will move with the community directly towards a better direction.

According to Agus, the village secretary of Maringkik Island, since a long time ago when they were still one village until they separated from the parent village, Tanjung Luar Village, Maringkik Village has experienced severe clean water problems until now. The geographical location on the islands and far from the settlements on the mainland of Lombok Island makes clean water facilities very difficult to access by the community. In addition, the lack of seawater processing technology as a raw water source is a factor in the clean water crisis that occurs in this village.

Based on the results of the discussion on February 10, 2023 between the Gempera management with the Maringkik Village government and several representatives from the community, youth and the Maringkek Village Tourism Awareness Group (Pokdarwis) until the water management in the previous period said that the community had to take turns getting clean water for their daily needs.

At least in the pipeline process carried out by the East Lombok regional government has not had a significant impact in meeting the community’s Clean Water needs, even each family is rationed to get 6 buckets every two days and it is done in turns. These six buckets are used for bathing, cooking and others so the community really has to be effective and efficient in using the clean water. In addition, the community utilizes rainwater to save in their respective homes by making a rain catchment system using a derigen that is flowed with a rubber hose to the water reservoir of each house, but this can only be done during the rainy season like now. However, when the dry season arrives, the community must be prepared to experience water shortages and only rely on water from pipelines, which sometimes causes problems every day.

In 2012, the Village Secretary stated that at that time there were efforts to overcome this Clean Water problem. There was an expert from Germany seeking assistance for a machine or tool to convert sea water into water that was ready to drink or use for household consumption. The community’s expectations at that time were very high with the equipment brought because it was predicted that it would be able to irrigate around 200 more heads of families on Maringkek Island. When the device was ready to operate, it turned out that in the process the device did not meet expectations. The water produced could only be utilized by 20 families, so many people were disappointed that the equipment had only been operating for a few months. The water production is very slow and the machine has long been damaged and no longer operates after a few months. Therefore, this has become a serious concern of Gempera Foundation which took the initiative to provide one of the solutions for clean water needs in Pulau Maringkek Village.

Gempera Foundation hopes to facilitate cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs for clean water assistance in the future. The condition of the Maringkik community is very concerning with the current situation. The very large population on Maringkik Island, namely 649 families, certainly requires assistance and solutions from the government. The village does not need other assistance, it is enough to provide clean water.