President Prabowo Pushes for Desalination Tech to Ensure Water Security in Quake-affected Regions

President Prabowo Subianto encouraged the use of science and technology, particularly desalination technology to strengthen water security in quake-affected East Nusa Tenggara province.

The statement was made in response to a report from Minister of Public Works Dody Hanggodo on the needs for clean water in various quake-affected areas, including Palue Island, Sikka Regency where geological conditions result in limited freshwater resources, posing challenges for the community in meeting their daily water needs.

The Minister said that the Government has prepared several measures to rebuild rainwater harvesting facilities that were affected by the earthquake. In addition, the Government is exploring the use of Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology to process seawater into freshwater as an alternative way of meeting the community’s water needs in Palue.

In the meantime, President Prabowo called for the development of desalination technology in home country, involving the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), the Defense University of the Republic of Indonesia (Unhan), the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI), as well as engineering faculties.

“I order BRIN to collaborate with Unhan, the TNI, and engineering faculties to develop desalination technology domestically and promptly sent them to areas with the most urgent needs,” he firmly said.

According to the President, water needs must be met promptly, not only during the emergency response period, but also through medium- and long-term efforts. He noted that the use of technology could play a key role in ensuring water availability for communities in areas facing limited water resources.

The President went on to say that through technology development, desalination can be implemented on a larger scale, particularly in Easy Nusa Tenggara and other island regions and coastal areas that require additional sources of clean water.

“Disaster pushes us to be more creative. We realized that this region is in a high need for reforestation and clean water. Now, the development of science has made many technologies increasingly affordable. Desalination system which was unaffordable for us 30 years ago and was accessible only to wealthy nations, can now be developed at the village level,” he explained.

He added that the desalination system should be integrated with the development of energy sources that is tailored to the potential of each region, including the use of solar power to support energy needs in areas that are not yet economically productive. Thus, it can generate energy used for economic projects.

On that occasion, the Head of the State encouraged the technology to be used to develop economic potential of NTT, including in agriculture, fisheries, and seaweed sectors that have significant potential for development, allowing post-disaster recovery to also serve as an opportunity to boost the region’s productivity.

Post-disaster recovery efforts aimed not merely to rebuild the affected regions but also to build back stronger and more productive. Through access to water, clean energy, reforestation, and the development of agriculture and marine sectors, the Government seeks to pave the way for NTT to grow into one of the nation’s key food and economic powerhouses. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (RAS/LW)