Jakartans longing for clean and cheap water

Debbie A. Lubis, Contributor, Jakarta

"Buying water has made a hole in my pocket," says an ordinary woman in an advertisement broadcast by Indonesian private televisions. Her grievance seems to be exaggerated, but it is true for most Jakarta residents.

It was the same grievance young mother Yayah felt. She was relieved when her husband decided two months ago to move from their rented house in the industrial area of East Jakarta to another house in a residential area of Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.

She could hardly wait to move into her new home, since the old one did not have access to clean water. "The well water was brown and smelled, while the tap water service was often disrupted, and the water quality was not so good. I became depressed every time I wanted to cook, wash clothes or take a bath," said the mother of one.

However, the dense population of her new neighborhood has impaired the quality of the available water, which often emits an awful smell when boiled. When Yayah tried using the tap water, it smelled corroded. Soon, corrosive minerals and other substances had stained her bathtub and the tiles in the bathroom.

Mochamad Ali, head of the water resources conservation division at the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure, acknowledged the poor quality of the water supply in the capital.

Industrial and household waste had contaminated not only river water but also groundwater, with E. Coli bacteria, detergents, pesticides and micro-pollutants such as heavy metals mercury, arsenic and chrome.

The shortage of a clean water supply is a serious problem for Jakarta and its surrounding areas, such as Tangerang. The existing tap water providers still rely on polluted rivers to meet the increasing demand for water.

The city's water supply is taken from Jatiluhur Dam in West Java, which is managed by state-owned company Perum Jasa Tirta (PJT) II. Since 1998, piped water in Jakarta has been provided by PT Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ), a joint venture between Britain's Thames Water Overseas Ltd. and PT Tera Meta Phora, and subsidiary of France's ONDEO -- formerly Lyonnaise des Eaux -- PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja), in cooperation with PD Pam Jaya, a water company managed by the Jakarta administration.

TPJ has the capacity to process clean water at 9,050 liters per second, slightly higher than that of Palyja, which has a processing capacity of 7,650 liters per second.

Under the Agreement Accord signed on June 6, 1997, TPJ serves customers to the east of the Ciliwung River, which divides Jakarta in two, while Palyja serves customers to the west of the river, covering the areas of West Jakarta and South Jakarta, as well as parts of Central and North Jakarta.

Both piped water operators have implemented a standardized water purification process based on Ministerial Decree No. 416/1990 on the physical, chemical and microbiological aspects of water. According to this decree, the water produced should have low cloudiness, be colorless, and be tasteless, while it should not emit any odor.

The process should also monitor organic substances, such as the chlorine used in the process, as well as non-organic substances, such as mercury and acids, maintain a standard pH balance and guarantee that the water is free from E. Coli bacteria.

The two companies monitor and control the water quality by taking samples from their customers, including households, hydrants, hospitals, offices and public places, like places of worship. Every month, Palyja takes 221 samples, while TPJ takes around 1,000 samples. They analyze the water quality in their laboratory, according to the parameters of the ministerial decree.

Mochamad Ali, however, said that the technology that the water firms used was still conventional. He said that the standard practice of adding chlorine to water polluted by a detergent or pesticides could form a new chemical compound which is believed to be a carcinogen.

"Bacteria actually can be filtered out by a micron filter. If the filter is 0.01, viruses cannot pass through it either. However, this filter is not available in Indonesia because the more complex the technology, the higher the cost. So it is advisable that people make their own water filters, which is still costly and requires continuous replacement," he said.

Currently, TPJ provides at least 336,550 piped water connections for 2.7 million Jakartans, of whom make up 62.17 percent of the total population of 4.5 million it serves, while Palyja provides 313,000 piped water connections in its area.

For household customers, TPJ charges from Rp 375 per cubic meter, or 1,000 liters, of water to Rp 3,500 per cubic meter, depending on the minimum capacity of the water supply. The rate for corporate customers is set at Rp 5,200 per cubic meter.

The average rate of the clean water supply in the capital is about Rp 2,700 per cubic meter, still above the average rate in other Southeast Asian countries.

"The water is potable when it is still in the installation, and the bacteria are killed by the chlorine. The quality of water deteriorates during the process of distribution to the end users, because of the worsening condition of the pipes in Jakarta and the plumbing in houses," TPJ public relations manager Mia Korompis said.

She added that most of the 5,000-km pipes were already worn out, leaking or severely damaged. The expansion of residential areas also brings water pipes very close to the drains, from which water often seeps into the pipes, turning the tap water cloudy and smelly.

As of December last year, Palyja had renovated 478 kilometers of pipes and installed a new 771-kilometer pipe network, while TPJ had carried out network development and reparation for 722.61 kilometers of pipes.