New houses required to install plastic septic tanks<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The city administration will require all Jakarta residents
\nwanting to build new houses to install fiber-reinforced plastic
\nseptic tanks, as part of measures to curb contamination of
\ngroundwater and rivers with untreated waste.<\/p>\n
\"We will require all residents applying for building permits
\nto equip their new houses with these modified septic tanks,\"
\nGovernor Sutiyoso said, after witnessing a signing ceremony
\nmarking the establishment of PT PAL Jayabumi Utama, a joint
\nventure company owned by city sewage firm PD PAL Jaya, Malaysian
\nfirm Pembinaan Jayabumi (PJS) Berhard, and local partner PT
\nKandiyasa Dirgatama.<\/p>\n
Sutiyoso said the administration decided to adopt the
\nMalaysian technology, which uses a septic tank made of fiber-
\nreinforced plastic, in order to reduce pollution levels from
\nsewage because the technology was \"more affordable than building
\na costly piped sewerage system.\"<\/p>\n
Three years ago, the city administration planned to build deep
\ntunnels and pipes connecting all houses in the capital, but later
\ndropped the project because of the extremely high cost, over Rp
\n50 trillion (US$5.3 billion).<\/p>\n
PT PAL Jayabumi Utama, the joint venture company, would
\nproduce septic tanks at its plant at the Jababeka industrial
\nestate in Bekasi, West Java. The tanks would be sold for between
\nRp 4 million to Rp 5 million per unit, depending on size.<\/p>\n
PAL Jaya president director Pudjo Prihadi Santoso said that
\nthe administration would be taking a 20 percent share in the US$4
\nmillion project.<\/p>\n
\"Hopefully, we will be able to produce at least 4,000 units of
\nseptic tanks for households this year,\" Pudjo said.<\/p>\n
Aside from septic tanks for households, the company will also
\nproduce community septic tanks that can be shared by more than 50
\nhouses.<\/p>\n
Jakarta is apparently in urgent need of better septic tanks.
\nThe City Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD) reported that
\nonly 39 percent of current septic tanks used by residents can
\nproperly neutralize untreated sewage. Also, most of them only
\nprocess human waste, leaving other waste waters, such as bathing
\nand washing water, to run into the city's drainage system and
\nending up in the city's rivers.<\/p>\n
The agency has repeatedly found high levels of E. coli
\nbacteria in all of the city's 13 rivers.<\/p>\n
The bacteria, which comes from human feces and can cause
\ngastrointestinal diseases, has seeped through from septic tanks
\nand has contaminated 80 percent of shallow groundwater wells in
\nthe city.<\/p>\n
The agency's data shows that Jakarta's population of some 12
\nmillion people produces no less than 1.5 billion liters of sewage
\nper day.<\/p>\n
\"Unfortunately, our sewage treatment plants only handle two
\npercent of total sewage,\" Sutiyoso said.<\/p>\n
Pembinaan Jayabumi Berhad said earlier that the new septic
\ntanks would reduce pollution levels from sewage to 50 biological
\noxygen demand (BOD), from the 75 to 85 BOD of conventional tanks.
\nIt said that the tanks would be equipped with plastic foam that
\nwould act as a filter as well as being a hotbed for decomposing
\nbacteria.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/new-houses-required-to-install-plastic-septic-tanks-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}