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Water Mismanagement as a Wicked Problem in Nauli City, Indonesia: A Mixed-Method Approach

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Mixed Methods and Cross Disciplinary Research

Part of the book series: Contemporary Systems Thinking ((CST))

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Abstract

The paper discusses the water management problem in Nauli City, Indonesia as a wicked problem that needs to be addressed by applying a critical systemic approach to the area of concern. Mixed methods will be applied to examine the wicked problem by using sequential stages of qualitative method followed by a quantitative method. Interviews with water providers and water users showed that water management conflicts have occurred and water has been used as a commodity while neglecting the quality of service. The hypothesis test through a quantitative method revealed that current condition is significantly worse than the previous (10 years ago) condition. This paper recommends that the wicked problem should be addressed by considering at least three aspects: governance, demand management, and preserving the environment.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Prof. Arjen Hoekstra in a video presentation in Water Footprint Network, http://waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/what-is-water-footprint/ retrieved 21 July 2017.

  2. 2.

    ‘Relevant persons’ means the designated persons that meet certain characteristics from a population (Hibberts et al. 2012, p. 67).

  3. 3.

    Encyclopedia of Public Health, 2008.

  4. 4.

    The NPM is coined by Christopher Hood 1991 in his article ‘A public management for all season?’. NPM has been implemented in many developed countries and is strongly supported by the World Bank to be implemented in developing countries (Gadkari 2010; Walker et al. 2011).

  5. 5.

    ‘Satu orang Indonesia konsumsi air rata-rata 144 liter per hari’ (average water consumption per person in Indonesia is 144 L/day), ciptakarya.pu.go.id, posted 05/03/2007, retrieved 01/08/2017.

  6. 6.

    Marshall (1950) in Citizenship and Social Class and other essays described three basic rights of citizens: the right to freedom of speaking, the right to participate in politics, and the right to have social security, economic, and welfare.

  7. 7.

    Source: Public Works Department of Nauli City, 2015.

  8. 8.

    Gunter Pauli report to the Club of Rome, November 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYtSILPBR44, retrieved 18 September 2017. See the available case studies at https://www.theblueeconomy.org/.

  9. 9.

    The USGS Water Science School, Ground Water Depletion, https://water.usgs.gov/edu/gwdepletion.html, retrieved 17 September 2017.

  10. 10.

    Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), http://www.csiro.au/outcomes/Environment/Australian-Landscapes/soil-carbon.aspx, retrieved 20 September 2017.

  11. 11.

    Website: http://www.tree-nation.com, retrieved 20 September 2017.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Jackwin Simbolan & Janet McIntyre-Mills

  2. Ministry of Finance, Jakarta, Indonesia

    Jackwin Simbolan

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  1. Jackwin Simbolan
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Correspondence to Janet McIntyre-Mills .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Janet McIntyre-Mills

  2. DABE, Sunnyside Campus, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Norma R. A. Romm

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Simbolan, J., McIntyre-Mills, J. (2019). Water Mismanagement as a Wicked Problem in Nauli City, Indonesia: A Mixed-Method Approach. In: McIntyre-Mills, J., Romm, N.R.A. (eds) Mixed Methods and Cross Disciplinary Research. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04993-5_18

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