Author's note:  I do not know of any actions taken as a result of this proposal.  It was requested by  a member of Bali's Rotary Club in 1997 and was delivered in 1998, in a time at which the political and economic situation on Bali was experiencing rapid change.  I am presenting it here mostly for informational purposes.  As a request for action it should be considered obsolete, although investigation of current conditions at Bunutin may be fruitful and is certainly not discouraged.  JWS, 25 Feb., 2003.
 

PROPOSAL

BACKGROUND

Phase I began with the hiring of a traditional tunnel builder from the village of Sebatu to lead construction of the 1553 m of tunnel needed to link the fields of Bunutin to the Song. This tunnel was finished in May 1978 after nine months of effort.
 
 

The Song dam (or weir) site, located in the territory of Desa Ulian immediately to the north of Bunutin, has a flow rate estimated at 67 liters per second. According to I Made Jemet (1991), it is an earthen structure 15 m tall and measuring 15 m across the river, with a front-to-back thickness of 24 m. Though advice was given before construction by Public Works employees and tunnel builders, the actual building of the dam was done through gotong-royong (communal labor) by the 70 members, without the use of special experts. Almost all materials (wood, bamboo, sugar palm fiber, etc.) were also contributed by members, with earth fill taken from the land around the dam. Everyday farmer’s tools were used. Work averaged 8 hours/day, and proceeded continuously except when interrupted by important village activities or traditions. The dam was completed after not less than 90 days of work, but unfortunately it was washed away by a flood within a month. Rebuilding began almost immediately, using similar methods but with less wood and more fiber-wound bamboo used to set the shape for the heaped earth. In the rebuilding operation, more care was also taken to follow the ritual and practical advice given by experts from Pura Ulun Danu Batur. Work (again continuous) took 2 1/2 months (75 days) , reaching completion in November 1978. The total effort put in on the two dams was 70 people X 165 days X 8 hours/day = 92,400 person/hours. At 1500 Rp/day, this puts the value of the communal work donated by the subak members at Rp 17,325,000 (Jemet 1991: 60-68).

Investment costs for 1st & 2nd dams on River Song (After Jemet 1991, Table 5)
 

Item	Cost
Bought materials: 2000 Bamboo poles at Rp100 ea. + 2 tons ijuk fiber at Rp225,000 ea.	Rp 650,000
Value of communal labor: First dam at Rp9,450,000 + Second dam at Rp7,875,000	Rp 17,325,000
Ceremony costs:	Rp 142,065
Other costs:	Rp 23,365
Total:	Rp 18,140,430
Dollar cost (1978: Rp625/1$)	$29,0246.88

Once the dam was completed, work began on the open channels needed to carry the water from the tunnel mouth to the fields. It took 90 7-hour days for the 70 subak members to construct 500m of primary channel and not less than 3000m of secondary, tertiary, and quaternary channels. After this, farmers individually “molded” their sawah plots, and the subak temples (the Pura Ulun Empelan, Pura Ulun Suwi, and Pura Bedugul) were built (p 72). Including a wait-time to improve soil structure, it was 2 years from start of tunnel building, and about 9 months from channel completion, to first planting in September 1979 (Jemet 1991: 72-73). At the completion of this phase, Bunutin was able to irrigate approximately 25 hectares of sawah.
 

Phase II entailed the construction of 2500 m to 3000 m of tunnel to bring the flow of the Sungai Belong to a point in the Sungai Song above the dam and tunnel already constructed there. The Belong water source, in Desa Gunungbau north of Ulian, has a rate of flow reported to be 430 liters/second -- over six times the flow at the Song site (Jemet 1991: 48). For this phase the 70 subak members from Bunutin were joined by 33 farmers from Ulian. Tunnel excavation began in December 1979, but did not proceed as smoothly as it had on the first tunnel. The subak found it hard to retain competent traditional excavation contractors who would work at affordable rates, especially in the exceptionally hard rock in the upstream end of the tunnel route. Work continued in spurts from 1980 until 1983, when mounting costs and a desire to focus on other development projects precipitated a six-year hiatus in excavation. At this point two-thirds of the Ulian residents who had sought to join the subak withdrew to pursue other opportunities. After work resumed in 1989 there was an unplanned deviation in the tunnel’s course, and it was decided that this could be most efficiently dealt with by abandoning 40 m of excavation and moving the tunnel’s intake about 30 m upstream. Work pressed on, and the tunnel was completed at some time after 1990 (at which time it stretched for 1753 m but was not yet finished; Jemet 1991: 91).
 
 

The tunnel from Sungai Belong was complete and functioning when Bunutin was visited in 1997, and Subak head Nang Pelung reported that the area of sawah wet-rice fields now totaled about 100 hectares (ha.), of which 20 ha were in Ulian. The dam that was observed in the Sungai Belong was about 5 m high, 6 m wide, and 6 m thick front-to-back; though it could not be examined closely, it appeared to be built as two vertical wood and bamboo walls with earth fill between them, taking advantage of a natural narrowing of the gorge through which the river flows. No information was gathered on the length of time that was required to build this dam, but the much smaller size suggests that construction should have taken much less time than required for the Song dam.
 
 

The dam was leaking in two ways when it was visited: water was flowing between the horizontally-placed logs at the top of the dam and was also flowing into the riverbed from impressively forceful leaks in the gorge cliff-face that lies below the dam and adjacent to the course of the tunnel (see attached plan). Nang Pelung estimates that stopping these leaks would double the flow of water through the tunnel.
 

REQUEST

Based on the speed with which this subak built the much larger (though less remote) Sungai Song dam, it is quite likely that the subak members could build a new dam on the Sungai Belong within six months, and it is even plausible that they could complete such a project if given a three-month window. The farmers of the subak are willing to donate the labor required to build the dam. The very existence of the tunnels, channels, lower dam, and terraces is testimony to the local commitment to the spirit of gotong-royong (communal labor).
 
 

Assistance with the purchase of materials would be greatly appreciated. This dam might potentially be buildable as a purely earthen structure, but the inclusion of some portion of concrete (the more the better) would greatly enhance soundness. The exact nature and volume of supplies needed would depend on the development of a more detailed construction plan. To this end, any granting agency should further discuss plans with the subak leaders to determine a mix of “traditional” and “modern” building techniques that will match the budget of the grantor and the requirements of the situation.
 
 

During discussions with Nang Pelung, the following grantable items were mentioned as of potential interest:
 
 

·cement

·sand

·cinder blocks

·girders
 
 

There is plenty of loose stone (boulders) in the channel, so it will probably not be necessary to carry stone to the remote ravine-bottom dam site, but a fair number of rock-breaking hand tools (sledge hammers, chisels, etc.) are likely to be worn out. The spillway below the dam may need to be lined, and it might also be helpful to add a metal flotsam grill or gate to limit flow through the tunnel during flooding. Subak head Nang Pelung did not request such expert advice, but might be amenable to a few days of paid or donated attention from an experienced engineeror traditional expert if a technically complex design is decided upon.
 
 

Though it is only 5 km from Bunutin to the dam site, assistance with truck rental or petrol costs would help speed the project to completion. Foodstuffs would help the village deal with the temporary displacement of labor from agriculture to construction. As with the Sungai Song dam, there will be relatively minor costs associated with ceremoniesand shrine improvements.
 

BENEFITS

The additional water would allow the subak to increase its irrigated field area from 100 ha or less to as much as 175 ha, expanding into areas that have already been terraced and are in use for the production of dry-field crops. Moreover, a sizable portion of the 100 ha already considered sawah is at present under-utilized, either producing only one rice crop a year or having been converted back from rice to non-irrigated crops such as short-lived orange trees. If water shortages were alleviated, these areas could produce two rice crops every year.
 
 

In addition to the financial benefits to be gained from an enlargement of the irrigated area, it should be noted that an impetus to change is provided by the higher prestige locally allotted to a rice-based diet relative to one centered upon yams and other starchy root crops (Jemet 1991).
 
 

In August 1997, Ir. I Gusti Ngurah Astika and John Schoenfelder discussed this project with section head Ir. I Gusti Ngurah Widjaya (SP1) of Bagpro Perencanaan dan Pembinaan at the Public Works (Pekerjaan Umum) offices in Denpasar, and assurances were given that Bunutin would have no regulatory problems from his office if a donor were found to support dam improvements.
 

SITE ACCESS

The Sungai Belong dam site would be difficult to find without local assistance. It can be reached by driving north through Ulian, then turning west to follow a dirt road (visible on included map) just south of Gunungbau. After parking at a point 5.1 km from the Pura Ulun Suwi as measured by odometer, it was necessary to use an unmarked and overgrown route to descend 110 m down the side of a steep gorge to reach the dam.
 

SOURCES

The situation outlined here was first brought to the attention of Dr. Stephen Lansing by the Jero Gde Duuran of Pura Ulun Danu Batur, acting in his capacity as advisor and advocate for the subak irrigation societies of Bali. Two field visits were made to gather information for this report; both trips included informative meetings with Nang Pelung (also known as I Wayan Mandra), who acts as both Klian (head) and Jero Mangku (priest) for Subak Gunung Mekar Merta Sari. The first trip (July 24, 1997), made by Dr. Lansing, John Schoenfelder, and colleagues, included inspection of some of the rice terraces and channels and the taking of locational Global Positioning System (GPS) readings within the fields. The second trip (August 15, 1997), by John Schoenfelder, Jero Sri, Nitish Jha, and Ir. I Gusti Ngurah Astika, included sketch-mapping and GPS use at the upper dam. Due to the limited time available, all measurements taken on both trips should be treated as approximations.
 

Dr. Stephen Lansing is a Professor in the Departments of Anthropology and Land and Natural Resources at the University of Michigan (USA).

Jero Sri is a priest at Pura Ulun Danu Batur, Kintamani, Bali

John Schoenfelder is an Anthropology graduate student at UC Los Angeles (USA)

Nitish Jha is an Anthropology graduate student at Brandeis University (USA)

Ir. I Gusti Ngurah Astika is a branch head at Laboratorium Pengamatan Peramalan Hama dan Penyakit Tanaman Pangan, Celuk.
 

This report also draws heavily upon the Sarjana thesis of I Made Jemet, entitled Proses Pembentukan dan Pembangunan Subak Gunung Mekar Merta Sari, Desa Bunutin, Kecamatan Kintamani, Kabupaten Bangli. This was submitted in 1991 to the Department of Agricultural Social Economy (Jurusan Sosial Ekonomi Pertanian) of Udayana University, Denpasar, under the guidance of Dr. Nyoman Sutawan and Ir. Gde Pitana, M. Sc.
 

FIGURES