Planning for Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) in Makassar, Indonesia

Climate change has aggravated challenges around the availability of urban water sources and quality while population growth is intensifying. The connection of urban water cycles and integrated water management (IUWM) has been suggested to address these challenges and to achieve water sustainability. Integration can help to establish an efficient use of water resources, equitable and universal water distribution, and environmental conservation, for example by involving stakeholders in policy making and planning. However, studies on understanding urban water integration in Indonesia are still limited. This study explores water policies and associated policies toward an integrated approach to urban water management in Indonesia, with the metropolitan city of Makassar as a case study. Makassar faces water imbalances and government agencies have set up efforts for an integrated approach to management. This study focuses on answering the following questions: (1) To what extent do urban water policies in Makassar further urban water integration in the city? (2) How may an integrated water approach respond to climate change and contribute to cities meeting SDG6: Water and Sanitation?
To answer these questions, this research used qualitative content analysis to assess the government documents related to water policies and development planning in Makassar. A content-analysis approach was used to determine the level of integration in the policy and planning. In addition, this method was used to show the significance of IUWM with respect to climate change adaptation and achieving SDG6.
The analysis shows that water scarcity and water imbalances due to climate change are the main challenges in Makassar, particularly in achieving universal drinking water access. There has been an integration effort in Makassar to face those issues. However, there are still opportunities to enhance policy choices further, particularly by emphasising both internal (intra-sectoral, within water-management) and external alignment (inter-sectoral, in relation to other policy fields) more systematically.

Key Words: Climate change, Water and sanitation SDGs, Integrated Urban Water Management, Indonesia.