The Talang Barrage across river Mayang in Jember Regency, East Java Province, Indonesia. Administratively, Jember Regency is bordered by Bondowoso Regency and Probolinggo Regency in the north, Lumajang Regency in the west, Banyuwangi Regency in the east, and in the south it is bounded by the Indonesian Ocean Barrage Talang is one of the historical relics during the colonial period of the Dutch Government in Indonesia. The barrage was built in 1920 when a forced cultivation system happen.

The Talang Barrage has 2 doors made of iron plates that can be operated manually or automatically using electricity or generators. The specifications of the building are preserved through the stones on the body of the weir pillars in Dutch which are inscribed with the year of manufacture, namely 1920.

In accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of Public Works Number 14/PRT/M/2015 concerning Criteria and Determination of the Status of Irrigation Areas, the Talang Irrigation Area is the authority of the central government which is carried out by the Technical Implementation Unit of the Balai Besar Wilayah Sungai Brantas because it has an irrigation service area of more than 3000 hectares.

The Talang Barrage was built for sugar cane, cotton, rice, tobacco, rosella (for packing sugar), coffee and other spices whose yields were for the benefit of the Dutch Government. In 1975 rehabilitation was carried out through the Prosida Project but did not change the structure and operation of the weir, only replaced the corroded iron door, and connected the gearbox with generators and electricity to facilitate the operation of the weir gate. The Talang Barrage is the main building of the Talang Irrigation Area which has a standard area of 8,844 hectares. The Talang Barrage serves the Ambulu and Jenggawa Areas in Jember Regency, East Java Province. The weir control system for agricultural operations after construction in 1920 was manual with human power turning the door wheel with the estimate that 100 rotations can only raise the weir door as high as 15 cm.

In 1920 the peasant economy depended on the Dutch government, which received a daily wage of 25 cents and a half-pikul rice allowance. If converted to current currency conditions, in 1920 farmers only received wages of Rp. 62,550.00/month and a rice allowance of 15 pikuls. The Talang Barrage was built in Jember Regency in 1920. It was designed as a weir because apart from being used for irrigation, it is also used for flood control. So that since the construction, The Talang Irrigation Area has received sufficient water and floods can be controlled.

The agricultural products produced in 2018 were 3,510 hectares of rice, 14,547 hectares of crops and 380 hectares of sugarcane with an estimated annual agricultural income of Rp494,014,000,000.00. Or Rp5,000,000,000/month/ha and one farmer can own more than 1 hectare area.

In addition, since the construction of the Talang Barrage, sugar factories in the district have also experienced development. The income of Semboro sugar factory workers is in accordance with the 2023 regional minimum wage, which is Rp2,500,000/month. When compared to the conditions before the construction of the Talang Weir, it was only Rp62,550.00/month and a rice allowance of 15 pikuls. So that there is an increase in the economy of farmers / surrounding communities before and after the construction of the Talang Barrage.

The Mayang River is a major river in Jember Regency which often experiences flooding. Based on electronic media information, floods have occurred in 2014 and 2022.  The Talang Barrage is located on the Mayang River which often experiences flooding. However, the construction of that was not damaged and is still functioning properly today. The three pillars of the weir are still strong with a service discharge of 16.3 m3/second for 8,162 hectares of rice fields taken from the main intake of the Primary Mayang Canal.

Based on point 1, farmers can plant rice twice a year and plant secondary crops and sugarcane. Sugarcane factories in Jember Regency have also begun to develop since the construction of the Talang Weir, such as the Semboro Sugar Factory which can absorb local workers with the Jember district regional minimum wage in 2023 of IDR 2,500,000.

The Mayang River has a high river discharge and a steep slope, so a talang barrage was built with a motion weir system with two doors that can be opened when the discharge is large and closed when the discharge is small to serve irrigation in the Talang Irrigation Area.

The main structure has 3 main pillars with 2 iron doors, iron stairs, weir turning wheels, rails and a door beam shifting system. The dimensions of the foundation are 6 meters deep and the height of the weir is 18 meters. that structure and three pillars are made of a mixture of crushed stone, sand, lime, and red cement. The uniqueness of the body of the Talang weir is that the building structure is very sturdy so it is not easily destroyed with a manual crusher such as a hammer. The construction implementation was also explained by several sources, namely during construction, the implementation method must be in accordance with the procedures set by the technician, for example building materials such as stone must be soaked and this is actually carried out. Until now, the weir body looks solid and there is no damage.

The Talang Barrage is a building for irrigation that was built during the colonial period of the Dutch Government in Indonesia. According to the stone inscription embedded in barrage, that building was built in 1920. The Talang Irrigation Network was also repaired until 1936. At the same time, the Semboro Sugar Factory was also built in Jember Regency in 1921 by HVA (Handles Veriniging Amsterdam) which is privately owned from the Netherlands. In 1928 the Semboro Sugar Factory started to grind sugar cane at full capacity from a 2,103 Ha sugar cane plantation. Based on the results of the development of historical information, in 1830 through the Cultuurstelsel (Forced Cultivation System) made by Van den Bosch, Dutch Colonialism in Java forced residents to work at that time planting sugarcane. As a result of the forced cultivation system, Java Island became one of the world's sugar producers, side by side with the Caribbean and Germany (Knight, G. Roger. 2014). Apart from sugarcane, the area served by the Talang Barrage also produces cotton, tobacco and spices to be sent to the Netherlands. There are also rice plants as food crops in Indonesia. So, after the Talang Barrage was built, it has an important role to support food production in the Netherlands The first time the Talang Barrage was operated manually with human power. One door requires 5 people to turn the weir door wheel so that the door goes up and releases the brake so that the door goes down. Operational implementation of the weir manually is very slow because 100 rounds can only raise the weir 15 cm. In conditions of an extreme increase in river discharge, if the runoff is above 65 cm, it is difficult to open the weir gate so that the operation is less effective and efficient. In 1975-1998 the Operation of the Talang Weir was equipped with a generator (diesel) engine to open and close the door but manual operation could still be used to anticipate if there was damage to the generator. In 1998 until now, the Talang Barrage operation uses electric power and to anticipate the loss of electricity, weir officers can still use generators or manual power. The rehabilitation of the Talang Weir was first repaired and increased in 1974-1975 by repairing doors that had experienced corrosion, repairing the transmission of iron that had become porous due to age, and increasing operations with a pulley system and generator carried out by a private company, namely PT. Boma Bisma from Surabaya City and is still functioning well. Flood discharge incidents have also hit the Mayang River so that river water overflowed over the weir which occurred in 2016 but did not damage the structur of the Talang Barrage. Barrage operations are assisted by POB (Weir Operational Officers) who work as many as 11 people.