SURABAYA, Indonesia, Aug 30 (Asia Water Wire) - It’s been over two weeks since the residents of Siring were evacuated from their mud- inundated village. It was a surreal sight – them aboard a boat being dragged by an excavator across the muck-filled neighbourhood.

The residents had to leave after an emergency dike built to control mudflows spouting from the failed drilling of a gas well, which started in May, also collapsed.

The continued mudflows continue three months after steam, water and mud first began to flow from the area where the oil and gas company PT Lapindo Brantas Inc was drilling a gas well in Porong district, Sidoarjo province in East Java.

Today, Andeng, mother of two, pointed to a few clothes, a radio and television that she was able to salvage from her house before she and her neighbours sought shelter at tent camps located a kilometre away. “This is all I have,” says the 46-year-old resident of Siring, located 100 metres from the drilling site.

Her neighbour, 40-year-old Liah, who lived alone, was taken straight to the hospital for an injured knee. One among the more than 6,000 people who taken refuge in these camps, she nods and smiles in relief at having been saved by army rescue volunteers.

On May 29, muddy water began spouting from the Banjarpanji-1 drilling well of PT Lapindo Brantas Inc, there has been no signs of letup in the flow of greenish-black, hot and stinking mud.

Officials estimate the volume of mud to reach 50,000 cubic metres each day. This could go up to 7 million cubic metres by October, which could easily fill up an astounding 1.4 million, five-metre dump trucks. Parked from end to end, the trucks could occupy 7,000 kilometres, or approximately seven times as long as Java Island, officials say.

The mud is threatening to cover more than 2,000 hectares, including 142 hectares of farmland, 17 hectares of sugarcane plantation, and 1,500 hectares of fishponds.

It has already forced more than 9,400 people to flee the villages of Siring, Kedungbendo, Jatirejo and Renokenongo. The shrimp farms of Sidoarjo are now in danger of being destroyed.

PROBE UNDERWAY

An investigation, with a view to possible criminal charges on grounds of environmental damage, is being conducted by the Indonesian government. The Department of Energy and Mineral Resources is considering withdrawing Lapindo’s work contract at the Brantas Block, which is managed by Lapindo as operator.

On Aug. 29, East Java police seized a rig belonging to the drilling firm “as material evidence as it is the equipment which caused the uncontrollable mud flow”, East Java police spokesman Senior Commissioner Widjaya Purbaya was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who visited the Pasar Baru area in Porong last week, said that the problem would hopefully be solved in two months.

A class suit for gross negligence against Lapindo Brantas, to be facilitated by the non-government Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi), is also being planned.

Local media reports say that Lapindo Brantas did not place a steel pipe casing when drilling at 3,580 to 8,500 feet as stipulated in its contract. Without the support of the pipe casing to withstand the pressure created while drilling, water and mud freely gushed through the surface.

According to Walhi, the damage caused by the mudflow could reach up to 50 trillion rupiah (5.5 billion U.S. dollars) and will require years of land rehabilitation, cleanup, and livelihood compensation.

Lapindo Brantas Inc was conducting exploratory drillings when the mudflow origin was between 5,000 to 6,000 feet deep, began. In several statements and on its website, the firm has pledged to continue with cleanup efforts. Known to have close links with the high-profile Energi Mega Persada, Lapindo is owned by the Bakrie family group of companies. One of its shareholders is Nirwan Bakrie, the brother of Aburizal Bakrie, coordinating minister for people’s welfare.

EASING MUDFLOWS

Among the plans to ease the mudflow is the clearing of 342 hectares of land to facilitate the construction of a dam to hold the mud for at least 10 months. This, however, will displace about 12,000 people in the area.

Another option is to place long pipes to drain the mud into the sea, but Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar does not agree with this. “It will destroy the ecosystem of Porong River. The mud is threatening to damage the shores of Muncar, Tanjung Perak, up to the Madura Straits and Bali,” he says, citing other corrective measures such as building dikes, dams, or having it processed to remove harmful elements and recycled.

President Yudhoyono says the plan to drain the mud into the sea needs to be studied carefully. “We have to see if it will disturb the ecosystem. The most important thing is the safety of the people,” he explains.

Health concerns also abound with people complaining of breathing problems, nausea and diarrhoea due to contaminated water. Many residents have been treated for burns after getting into contact with the mud which news reports say have high fluoride and sulfur content.

The onset of the rainy season is also cause for worry. High water levels from the Malang, Brantas and Mojokerto rivers, which flow into the Porong River, can complicate relief operations.

“This disaster has become a national concern and is now more dangerous than a collapse of electric power plants,” says H Satrijo Wiwieko, director of the non-government organisation Sahabat Lingkungan. (END/AWW/IPSAP/HS/LC/JS/300806)