Apartment residents complain of bad water

Apartment residents complain of bad water

JAKARTA (JP): Residents of Tanah Abang low-cost apartment
complex are complaining about the poor quality of water
distributed by the City Water Company (PDAM Jaya).

"We cannot use the water for bathing or drinking directly out
of the tap because it is muddy, stinking and contains live
worms," Thamrin Oemar, the head of community unit within the
apartment complex, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Thamrin said that the residents had been suffering the poor
water conditions for more than a month.

To deal with the problem many of the residents have to keep
the water in their basin for 24 hours before they use it. By
doing this, the filth in the water settles to the bottom, leaving
the top half, presumably, clean enough to use.

"If we do not do that our skin will be itchy and our drinking
water will be murky," he said.

According to Thamrin, damaged underground pipes are
responsible for the poor water conditions because the soil and
dirty water seep into them.

"Since the apartment is located near the central water
installation in Pejompongan, more dirty materials reach our
reservoir," he said.

PDAM Jaya finance director Machmud Ranusemito said recently
that 37 percent of the company's overall installed capacity of
12,500 liters per second was unaccounted due to leaky pipes.

The company has only replaced 54 percent of the old pipes,
Machmud said. He blamed of a lack of funds for the failure to
replace the old pipes.

Abdulgani H. Abdullah, a chairman of the City Council's
Commission B on Economy, had stated previously that it had
procured loans from the World Bank to finance a water pipe
replacement project.

Meanwhile, Sugianto, the water company technician who is
responsible for the water distribution in Central Jakarta, has
denied that the bad smell, worms and mud result from the leaked
underground pipes.

"I just got back from an inspection at the complex on Monday
and I witnessed that their water reservoir was not properly
treated," he said.

Vital facility

Sugianto said that the reservoir was kept open, dirty,
unprotected from exposure to the sun exposure and had become a
lair for mosquitoes.

"I have told them to take care of their water reservoir
because it is a vital facility," he said.

He said that if there are any dirty materials from the pipes
they are only the sediment of chlorine or the corroding residues.

Responding to the residents' complaint about the low water
pressure, he said that the company's task is only to deliver
enough water to the apartment complex.

"It is the residents who are responsible for the water
distribution to the apartment units," he said.

Thamrin said that organization of residents owned two water
pumps to distribute water to the units.

However, the 13-year old water pumps are already too old and
are frequently out-of-order. The broken pumps hampered the
complex water distribution there.

The apartment complex, consisting of 60 four-story buildings
are homes of 960 families or 3,000 people, was built on a six
hectares of land in 1981 by Perumnas, a state-owned housing
company.(03)