Privatization of Water Resource Management in the Discourse of Local Government Autonomy

Water is an inseparable element of human life. Data from National Geographic shows that Indonesia holds 6% of the world’s water supply or about 21% of Asia Pacific water supply. Indonesia’s potential water resource reserves are around 3,900 billion cubic meters per year. That potential lies in 5,886 streams and 521 lakes. The amount of potential water can be utilized around 690 billion liters per year. As much as 82 percent of surface water nationally is in Kalimantan, Papua, and Sumatra. Unfortunately, the potential of water is prone to run out because it is not managed responsibly. Regional autonomy that becomes the basis of independence of natural resource management in each region, is often misinterpreted. As a result, many areas experience drought in the dry season and floods in the rainy season. Through normative legal research methods, this study tries to find the root cause of water privatization in the regional autonomy regime. The problematic was then analyzed using prescriptive methods to find new concepts related to legal protection efforts against the symptoms of privatization of water management in the region. The results of this study show that: 1) Symptoms of privatization of water management are almost all over Indonesia; and 2) Legal protection efforts that can be done is to amend the Law on Water Resources and issue Local Regulations relating to the conservation and protection of water resources in the region. The recommendations given through this research are in the form of efforts to provide proper education on the management of water resources in the region.