Tourism Growth Strains Labuan Bajo’s Intermittent Water Supply

Labuan Bajo — Residents in and around Labuan Bajo receive piped water only intermittently, with several studies reporting that household connections typically run just a few hours, a couple of times per week, while hotels rely on large storage tanks and multiple sources to buffer tourism operations against supply interruptions, according to research on inclusive water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in the destination.

Available evidence does not quantify current utility capacity or water use by visitors and residents in 2026, but it consistently shows that rapid tourism growth on dry islands has added pressure to limited water resources and exposed gaps between services for hotels and nearby communities.

In a dry island setting such as western Flores, unreliable supply raises household costs, increases the distance people travel to obtain water and restricts sanitation options, while tourism facilities can maintain service by purchasing, transporting and storing additional supplies.

How tourism increases pressure on water and sanitation

Tourism in Labuan Bajo and other Nusa Tenggara Timur destinations requires water for accommodation, restaurants, cleaning, laundry, toilets, handwashing and transport services.

A systematic literature review published in the December 2025 edition of PREPOTIF Jurnal Kesehatan Masyarakat identified Labuan Bajo, Sumba and Alor as dryland tourism areas where water demand has risen sharply alongside tourism infrastructure, while access for local residents has lagged.

The review examined research on Nusa Tenggara Timur from 2015 to 2025 and reported that only a minority of island residents had reliable piped water, with many depending on wells, tanker deliveries and purchased drinking water.

Across the studies it assessed, the review linked pressure on water systems to limited natural water resources, weak coordination between sectors and limited uptake of adaptation measures such as rainwater harvesting and small-scale desalination.

It also highlighted constrained local institutional capacity as a barrier to long-term water governance and equitable WASH access in tourism destinations.

An earlier case study on inclusive WASH and tourism in Labuan Bajo described the town and surrounding islands as water-scarce, with distinct wet and dry seasons and average annual rainfall of roughly 1,500 millimetres.

Researchers noted that residents and tourism businesses draw on several sources, including piped water from the local utility, shallow and drilled wells, tanker deliveries and purchased drinking water.

The hotel–household gap

Hotels and residents may rely on the same utility but experience service differently.

According to the 2021 practice note on Labuan Bajo and a related case study, hotels frequently install large storage tanks to capture intermittent deliveries and supplement them with well water or tanker supplies, making hotel water availability more dependable during interruptions.

Households, by contrast, were reported to have more limited storage, leaving them more exposed when piped water only runs for a few hours twice a week.

Research on inclusive WASH in Labuan Bajo found that hotel guests and employees generally had better toilets, handwashing facilities and soap than nearby communities, reflecting investments in tourism-facing infrastructure.

The same work noted that sanitation access in Labuan Bajo’s main village had improved following a community-led sanitation programme under the national STBM approach, but coverage in some surrounding villages remained significantly lower.

On small islands around Labuan Bajo, the practice note reported communities depending on water transported by tanker boats from the main island, with limited water for flushing and few suitable locations for toilets restricting sanitation access.

Researchers also documented concerns that some small cruise vessels discharged toilet waste directly into the sea, highlighting the need for clearer regulation and enforcement of wastewater management in marine tourism.

For households, the consequences of intermittent supply are longer-term than a hotel guest encountering a dry tap.

Studies cited in the PREPOTIF review and inclusive WASH case work describe families buying water at high prices during the dry season, travelling long distances to collect it and separating drinking-water sources from water used for hygiene and sanitation.

The literature review added that these burdens often fall disproportionately on women and children, who typically manage household water collection and use, and recommended combining climate resilience, inclusive WASH services and tourism-focused water governance instead of treating visitor facilities and community infrastructure as separate systems.

Tourism growth and outstanding questions

Labuan Bajo’s tourism expansion predates the COVID-19 pandemic.

The inclusive WASH case study and practice note describe Labuan Bajo as one of Indonesia’s designated “super-premium” tourism destinations, with international visitor numbers to Flores rising strongly in the decade before 2020.

Researchers argue that solutions to Labuan Bajo’s inclusive WASH challenges must be locally driven, build local capacity and open pathways to collaboration between national and local governments, communities and the private tourism sector.

The studies and reviews available describe conditions and research through 2025.

They show persistent inequalities in storage and sanitation access between hotels and communities and document how intermittent water supply affects households on dry islands, but they do not provide enough data to calculate tourism’s exact share of water demand or the current daily production capacity of the Labuan Bajo water utility.

Sources

• PREPOTIF Jurnal Kesehatan Masyarakat – "Akses Air Bersih dan Sanitasi di Pulau-Pulau Wisata Lahan Kering Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara Timur: A Systematic Literature
• International WaterCentre / Griffith University – Inclusive WASH and Tourism in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia: Case Study Report (PDF)
• Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development – "Inclusive WASH and sustainable tourism in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia: needs and opportunities"
• Griffith University research repository – Inclusive WASH and sustainable tourism in Labuan Bajo (PDF)
• Al Fahmu Journal – article citing Haning et al. 2025 systematic review
• Studocu – "Intersectional Analysis of Water Tourism in Labuan Bajo" lecture notes
• University of the West of England repository – "For the Worry of Water"