Yesterday, accidentally I listened to a song entitled “Moon River” by Andy Williams. It brought back my own “Tom Sawyer” memories. Back in 80s when I was a little boy, my friends and I used to take bath in Ayung River that runs on the western part of our village. We swam, played, or did various mischiefs while taking bath in our “Moon River”; and for the adults, they were busy washing their clothes or having a little chitchat about the current gossip in the village. Boys and girls, men and women, crowded the river late in the afternoon up to the evening. The river was our public meeting place where we had a chance to mingle with other villagers.

However, nowadays, rivers in Bali are losing its unique function as public meeting place especially in south Bali, such as in Denpasar and southern areas of Badung regency and in other areas in Bali, the number of the people who taking a bath in the river diminishes greatly in two decade. These drawbacks are the result of many factors such as the volume of the water in many rivers in Bali has decreased makes it quite difficult for bathing and washing activities; some even cease to flow. The quality of the water also contributes to these drawbacks; clear and healthy river water can only be found in the mountainous regions; pesticide and pollution decrease the quality of river’s water. Last but not least, most of Balinese have their own bathroom and taking a bath or washing in the river become impractical since we have to walk or ride a motorcycle to reach the river.

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By Marwaan Macan-Markar

TENGANAN, Bali, Indonesia , Dec 19, 2007 (IPS) - When they next harvest the the terraced paddy fields on a gently sloping hill, the farmers in this village will reinforce a tradition that celebrates harmony between people and the environment — and do their bit to slow down climate change.

Credit, carbon or otherwise, must go to the young men in this community of some 200 families with a history going back centuries. For it were they who took the lead in building a micro-hydro power generator to produce electricity using run-of-the-river water to run a small mill to husk and polish locally grown rice.

”This generator can produce 12 to 15 kilowatts of power,” says Putu Wiadnyana, 25, the architect of the single-room micro-hydro generator, which is located near the shimmering green terraced fields along the eastern border of Tenganan. ”The mill should be ready by early next year in time for the next rice harvest.”

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