PDAM supplies only 58% of city water needs

JAKARTA (JP): An executive said PDAM Jaya, the city-owned water company, could supply only 58.8 percent of the city's daily water demand of 1.7 million cubic meters.

"The company provide the people of Jakarta only with 1 million cubic meters of water from the total demand of 1.7 million cubic meters a day," H. Poedjiono, PDAM Jaya's business director, said.

He said that the remaining 700,000 cubic meters are still being acquired from other water sources such as artesian wells.

According to Poedjiono, the company's capability to distribute clean water to the people of Jakarta has increased from 41 percent of the city's total inhabitants last year to 44 percent this year.

During the past five months, PDAM Jaya has come under fire from thousands of people over various water complaints. Most of the complaints are about poor water quality and its quantity.

For instance, a four-star hotel on Jl. Thamrin was forced to spend millions of rupiah last month to buy additional clean water due to the malfunctioning of the company's water installation unit, while hundreds of residents living in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, complained in August that their tap water was dirty and foul smelling.

However, Poedjiono said that the quality and the quantity of tap water in Jakarta will soon improve because the rainy season will begin next month.

"According to the weather forecast, the rainy season will begin in November and it will improve both the quality and the quantity of the tap water in Jakarta," Poedjiono said.

To deal with the problem of polluted water, Poedjiono said that the company has signed a joint cooperation agreement with other related bodies including the city office of public works.

Poedjiono said that the company is now also constructing an underground transmission pipe straight from Tarum Barat water duct at Kali Malang, East Jakarta to the Pejompongan installation center.

"The construction is expected to be completed by the end of 1995 while the ongoing construction process has already reached Jl. Casablanca, Central Jakarta," he said.(mas)