Community overcomes problems by working together

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With a tap water crisis looming, millions of residents in the crowded and chaotic capital have reason for concern.

But not Ramelan, 66, and his wife, Saminem, 57, and 23 other families who live on the tiny and crowded Gg. Setia in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta.

Blessed with adequate groundwater but lacking space, the community of 107 people has been managing its precious water supply carefully for almost 40 years.

"Since the 1960s, we have used public wells, six bathrooms and six toilets. Every house here only has a tiny area for washing dishes and laundry. But for other things, we use the communal facilities," Ramelan, who hails from Yogyakarta, told The Jakarta Post.

Each family on Gg. Setia rents their modest wooden house from a landlord, whose house is located on the corner of the tiny street.

"When we first came here in the 1960s, the landlord arranged the communal sanitation facilities," Saminem, a homemaker, said.

Years later, although the economy had improved and they could afford privacy and their own facilities, the families decided to maintain the communal facilities.

Since 1997, the community, assisted by donated building materials from the municipality, has improved the facilities.

In 2002, when a prolonged dry season lowered the groundwater level, the community decided to dig an artesian well.

"Thank God, the quality of the groundwater here is good," Ramelan said, adding that in 2001 tests found the quality of their water met government standards.

And all of the families in the area want to keep it that way.

"Once, one of our neighbors built his own toilet at the back of his house. After discussing it with others, we asked him to close the toilet. Fortunately, he was quite understanding," Ramelan said.

"The problem is, if each house had its own toilet, septic tank and well, it would get too crowded and all of the septic tanks would pollute the groundwater," he said.

With the current arrangement, the distance between the communal wells and the septic tank is about 20 meters, above the minimum distance of 15 meters required by local sanitation standards.

Ramelan said some people from the water company once visited the neighborhood to do some measuring, but they never came back.

According to the latest reports, as of December 2004, tap water services provided by PAM Jaya, in a joint venture with PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya of France and PT Thames PAM Jaya of Britain, covered just slightly more than three million people in the capital, out of a total population of 8.7 million.

"I don't know about the rest of the community. But for myself, I'm pleased with the current arrangements, even though we don't have a private toilet and bathroom. The distance from our house to the facilities is not very far," Ramelan, a retired police officer, said.

Ramelan said he heard tap water customers often complain about the poor service.

"My brother-in-law is a PAM customer. He tells me the tap water sometimes stops all day, particularly in the dry season. Sometimes it only trickles at night," Ramelan said.

"We are happy with this. We only pay Rp 10,000 (US$1) a month, which also covers the cost of cleaning equipment like brushes and disinfectants." Saminem said. "I think a family uses an average of 5,000 m3 water a day if they do laundry."

Compared to tap water, the community pays very little for water. The cheapest rate for tap water is currently Rp 900 per 1 m3, and the highest is Rp 12,150. Tap water rates are likely to be raised 25 percent next year.

Every month, Ramelan added, 15 people were assigned to clean the public toilets.

"We were named the best neighborhood because of our good sanitation and community health," Ramelan said with pride.

"But on top of that, we actually won because of our sense of community," Saminem added, also proudly.

Saminem, who rents two small houses for Rp 50,000 each per month, pointed at a wall built from wooden planks.

"We can dismantle the walls all the way from the left end of the row to the right," she said.

She said the arrangement was useful for the community when they threw parties for weddings, circumcision ceremonies or any other communal gathering.

Almost all of the 24 families, or 107 people, who live on Gg. Setia originally came from Central Java or Yogyakarta, like Saminem and Ramelan.

Judging from their modest yet adequate belongings, the people of Gg. Setia are not among Jakarta's poor. But obviously, finance-wise, their lives are not as easy as those of their rich neighbors just one kilometer away in the posh Permata Hijau.

But they keep on smiling. Clearly, working together the people of Jakarta can thrive.

Caption: JP/Evi Mariani Ramelan points to a sign that reads, "Please, take off your shoes", in front of the communal toilets.