PAM water leakage has reached almost 60%

PAM water leakage has reached almost 60%

JAKARTA (JP): The volume of water leaking from the
distribution pipes of the city-owned water company PAM Jaya
reaches 59 percent of its total water production of 1 million
cubic meters per day.

Susanto Mertodiningrat, head of the drinking water and
settlement health improvement training center of the Ministry of
Public Works, said in Bogor, West Java, on Tuesday that the
volume of water leakage in Jakarta is far higher than the average
of 42 percent experienced by the other provincial water companies
throughout the country.

Susanto was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying that if
the volume of leakage could be reduced to 40 percent, PAM Jaya
would be able to save billions of rupiah and there would be no
need for the firm to raise water rates.

Speaking at the opening of a Seminar and Workshop on Drinking
Water Quality Standards and Guidelines, Susanto said the water
losses were caused by aging pipeline networks and pilferage.

"Besides springing leaks, the old pipe networks also affect
the quality of the treated water distributed by the firm due to
contamination," he said.

In a related development, Achmad Lanti, secretary of the Cipta
Karya directorate general, said that the quality of drinking
water in Indonesia is still below the standard set by the World
Health Organization.

"The poor quality is caused mainly by the increasingly
contaminated input to the water company," he said.

The water input to the treatment plants usually has to be
channeled through heavily populated and industrial areas, causing
a high level of the contamination.

New pipeline

Lanti said that the government is currently installing a pipe
network to supply water input through Kali Malang to the PAM Jaya
water processing center in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta.

The pipeline, which is being installed at a cost of Rp 1
trillion (US$476.19 million), is designed to secure an adequate
supply of drinking water for Jakartans by the year 2000, he said.

In a related development, Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja
issued a statement on Tuesday to the effect that the city's water
projects are partly funded by financial assistance from the World
Bank.

In a statement read by Tb. M. Rais, the deputy governor for
economy and development, Surjadi announced to members of the City
Council that the current project is also designed to reduce the
use of artesian wells and to prevent the ground water level from
further declining.

The governor said recently that the ground water supply in the
capital is adequate to meet demand for drinking water for the
next 10 years.

The city administration is striving to intensify control of
the licensing of artesian wells because excessive use of the
wells is feared to speed up sea water intrusion into the
capital's ground water system, the governor said.

"I agree with the statement made by the United Democratic
Party faction, that the usage of artesian wells must be limited
through stricter permit procedures so as to avoid further
degradation of land and water systems in the capital," the
governor said. (yns/hhr)