Community Participation on Water Resources Management in the Drought Prone Area (A Case Study from Wonogiri Village, Central Java, Indonesia)

Because geomorphological condition does not support the formation of good aquifer, the present of spring is becoming invaluable water resources for Wonogiri villagers to fulfill their domestics needs. The aim of this research is to investigate the community participation on spring management at the environment threatened by drought every year in Central Java, Indonesia. A field survey was conducted to interview some key informants related to management pattern applied in the village. We also observed directly the springs condition and land utilization surrounding the catchments area. A community organization which is responsible to protect the water quantity and quality was established to manage Ngureng spring as the main domestic water resources in study area. They manage the rate as well as the time of water usage. Both structural and non-structural protection activities were enforced to keep the water clean. Eventually, a lot of efforts have been shown by the community to minimize water scarcity when the dry season comes, but unfortunately it is only limited to the spring area and there is no land utilization management action yet in whole catchment that could give significant influence to the sustainability of the springs. This result could become a lesson learned related to community protection activities in rural area and hopefully, some improvement step could be taken to reduce the disaster risk in the future.