Brianna Weier

Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Alcock, Frank

Area of Concentration

Environmental Studies

Abstract

This thesis explores the distribution of water as an invaluable resource in the context of two case studies taking place within Indonesia. I first lay fundamental understandings of the international community’s water and sanitation prerogatives which are expanded by Elinor Ostrom’s contributions to the understanding of how and why resources are managed. The core of this thesis describes the history of water networks in Jakarta and its neighboring foil of Bali. Jakarta’s colonial history offers insights into how centuries of resource mismanagement can create a dire and almost impossibly damaged resource management system. Alternatively, Bali’s fields of rice paddy irrigation, left mainly untouched by the colonial Dutch, present an example of what could have been, and, ideally what could be. The case for Indonesia’s water future is constructed through conceptual, historical, environmental, and anthropological lenses. The ways in which a resource is managed can have drastic impacts on the effectiveness and sustainability of its distribution. Although a perfect solution may not exist, this thesis brings to light the importance of collectivization and equitable distribution of water as a key path forward in the fight for effective Indonesian water management.

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