PDAM Jaya urged to check customers' water meters

PDAM Jaya urged to check customers' water meters

JAKARTA (JP): A city councilor has urged PDAM Jaya, the city-
owned water company, to improve its performance by checking water
meters installed at customers' homes.

Checking water meters was important to help reduce the
company's tap-water leakage, which, together with the poor
maintenance of pipeline networks, reaches about 50 percent of its
total water production at present, said Asrul Harun of Commission
C for financial affairs over the weekend.

Asrul said PDAM's water leakage problem had become a classic
issue.

"The tap-water leakage is not caused only by the poor
condition of pipelines but also by PDAM's neglect of its duty to
check water meters," he said.

Based on Gubernatorial Decree No. 2/1981, water meters must be
checked or changed if they are damaged.

"No wonder PDAM loses a lot of its water production. Many
Jakarta houses' water meters are broken, in that the meters run
slowly even though its consumers use much more water than the
number on the meter indicates," he said

The company has no reason not to check the water meters
because, according to Asrul, PDAM has charged a Rp 1,000 (33 US
cents) maintenance fee from customers every month over the past
16 years since the enactment of the decree.

As PDAM data shows there are 425,160 tap water consumers in
Jakarta, he questioned how the fees were managed. "What have they
done with the money? I know it may be not worth a lot but the
public has the right to get better services from them," he said.

In many cases, PDAM officials did not even check new water
meters installed in new buildings. The equipment was just sealed
by them, he said.

"Sealing water meters must actually be done by an independent
agency, the City Measurement Agency, which is authorized to check
the meters before they are installed at consumers' houses," Asrul
said, revealing that over the past 14 years, the water meter in
his house has never been checked by PDAM.

He also urged people not to be afraid to ask PDAM officials to
check their water meters.

Based on the council's investigation, some PDAM officials
bought low-quality water meters. "They just bought them based on
an economic interest, not based on quality," he said.

For instance, the second-best quality meter is labeled as
first quality, he said, adding that when any water meter supplier
went bankrupt, PDAM did not have sufficient spare parts to repair
meters.

Asrul added that the collusion practices between consumers in
commercial buildings and the firm's officials also led to water
losses.

Based on 1997 PDAM data, out of the 18,035 cubic meters of
water production per second, only 10,195 cubic meter per seconds
reached the consumer buildings.

Asrul said that PDAM had to cut the leakage rate from 53
percent to 20 percent, the allowable limit set by the
administration. (07)