From water depletion to water pollution, understand why and what you can do.

10 minute read

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Aussie travellers were in the top 3 most frequent flyers to Bali, Indonesia. This is important because 80% of Bali’s economy relies on tourism, and tourism uses 65% of Bali’s depleting water sources. And, when you consider that 60% of Bali’s water table is declared dry you can start to put the pieces together as to why clean #Water4Bali is every Australian and every tourist's responsibility.

Image @CassieGallegos on Unsplash

“clean #Water4Bali is every Australians and every tourist's responsibility”

Water depletion and water pollution in Bali are at the core of why Corethics exist. By sharing our journey we hope to ignite curiosity and cause for action amongst our community.

There’s not a lot of research on water depletion and pollution and its link to tourism in Bali. However, I did find one research paper that stood out. Stroma Cole, senior lecturer in tourism geography at the University of the West of England and Director at Equality in Tourism, in her research, set a profound framework for understanding the interwoven relationship between water and tourism, amongst other factors. This framework was not only crucial to my individual inquiry but has been the bible for all other researchers, students, non-government organizations, and environmentalists in Bali and across the world.

Water depletion

In my 2017 field research, I sat down with local people, ex-pats, scholars, business owners, charity founders, and tourists to listen, to their perspectives on what was happening. This is what I heard on the ground in Bali:

“hundreds of litres of water seeps into the earth daily”

 

Image @MichaelBlock on Pexels

Over extraction

Poorly built pools in villas, hotels, and guesthouses across South Bali meant that hundreds of litres of water seep into the earth daily. This results in the over-extraction of water to continually refill pools for tourists

Corruption 

I was informed of cases of fake certifications and payoffs to avoid being “caught out” or more accurately paying legitimate engineers to rectify their dysfunctional water management systems

Greenwashing

I don’t know if you know the term? When one claims to solve an environmental issue but instead, creates a problem. Sadly, greenwashing is a product of our fake news era and something we should all be awake to. Unfortunately, this is ripe in Bali which made it even harder to sift through all the “solutions” to find a genuine path to solving depleting water sources. Sustainable, ethical, and eco-fashion have flooded the market targeting Yoga-seeking tourists as well as those seeking out their own Eat, Pray, Love.

The wealth divide 

In Bali, the rich are able to gain access to clean stores of water by hiring expensive equipment to drill deeper into the earth. While the poor only have access to hand-dug wells resulting in drinking water well below international quality standards

“I feel a huge sense of responsibility to do something”

I had a thirst for solutions, I also acknowledged I was and still am today, in a position of privilege. I feel a huge sense of responsibility to do something about what I had learned in books and through recounts by local people - often information that I could never share due to its sensitivity.

“empowering the next generation with the knowledge of water stewardship… I was filled with hope”

When I sat down with IDEP Foundation at their beautiful office in Gianyar, Bali we discussed the lack of water available to local people, the over-extraction by the wealthy, the proposed golf course in the North by Donald Trump (golf courses use an exorbitant amount of water and take land from indigenous people).

As IDEP Foundation told me of their Bali Water Protection Program and how it offers a scientifically proven solution with a long term plan, that is, empowering the next generation with the knowledge of water stewardship to ensure generations to come to protect and conserve fragile water sources, I was filled with hope.

Image @IDEPFoundation 

Since then Corethics has been a strong advocate for raising the profile of this local solution to create access to clean #Water4Bali. We are committed to ensuring access to clean water is not just for the wealthy but reaches the poor too.

Water pollution

At the time when I was conducting field research in 2017, the world awoke to the need to break up, our almost 50-year relationship, with plastic. Some of those viral videos getting around on Facebook and Instagram, showing blankets of plastic pollution lapping the shores, was sadly in Bali.

Thankfully, I learned of the incredible local solutions such as Bye Bye Plastic Bags and Trash Hero. These initiatives are working to combat a cultural shift in waste, a movement to reduce the sale of single-use plastic, to reduce plastics in ceremonies, and in local markets.

“There is a lesser-known, almost invisible threat to clean #Water4Bali”

When we think of water pollution we almost always think of plastic. But, there is a lesser-known, almost invisible threat to clean #Water4Bali. That is chemical pollution. 

I met with Cat Wheeler, author of Bali Daze: Freefall off the Tourist Trail, and we spoke of the incredible craftsmanship and artistry of the Balinese people. While something we admired together, it is also something the fashion industry admires too, especially Australian designers wanting to manufacture offshore. In Denpasar, the capital of Bali, there are at least 200 unregistered textiles factories alone. Across the south of Bali, homes are transformed into factories and it is estimated that thousands exist. Why is this important?

“when chemicals … are not correctly treated and are flushed into local waterways, you have an uncontrollable problem”

 

Image @AgungBayu/Bali Express

Screen printing is a popular dye process in Bali but it uses large amounts of water. And, when chemicals from the dyeing process are not correctly treated and are flushed into local waterways, you have an uncontrollable problem. And, with sarongs, dresses, t-shirts, and scarves a popular tourist souvenirs the risk to Bali’s beautiful natural environment and people remains high.

I have seen with my own eyes the unsafe work conditions that Indonesian garment workers face. I have seen chemicals discharged into local waterways. But, I have also seen an anthropologist turn a family business into a plant-based natural dye house that captures the water used in the dyeing process and filtrates the dyes through the use of plants. There is hope. This became the drive behind Corethics Waste 4 Wealth Project.

A Curious Beginning

When you love something, you want to know all about it, the good and the bad. You have this need to protect it, nurture it, feed it, see it thrive, and even share the love you have for it with others.

Corethics began from a love of Indonesia, through connections with local people, a deep sense of curiosity for culture, the natural environment, and travel. Attempting to narrow our scope down to one island was tough. In my research, I explored “What is the impact of Mass Tourism on life in Bali, Lombok, and Sumbawa?”.

“tourism industry was adversely affecting local people, their land, and their wellbeing”

Bali stood out, as you could imagine, as being at a crisis point compared to its lesser-known neighbours Lombok and Sumbawa. Knowing that water sources were quickly dwindling away and pollution was swallowing the beautiful island of the gods, I knew that my focus was required in Bali. What I found was a harrowing reality that the tourism industry was adversely affecting local people, their land, and their wellbeing, and this issue, whilst very well known amongst local people, had been made little progress on correcting decades of abuse.

Positive Outlook

Image @HarrisonHaines on Pexels

Our position isn’t to tell you not to go to Bali because this will only push local people into poverty, creating another issue. This moment you are in right now, is your moment, to think about how precious water is for life, human life, our health, plants, food, and non-human species with whom we share this incredible planet with. By empowering yourself with the knowledge, compassion, and the will to re-write the story for Bali you are choosing to be a part of the solution.

“We are so lucky, in Australia, to have clean running water from the tap…don’t you think our neighbours in Bali deserve that too?”

Ready to take action?

SUBSCRIBE. DONATE. SIGN OUR PETITION. VOLUNTEER. FOLLOW.

With love & hope,

Melissa