Pollution and clean water shortage

Pollution and clean water shortage

The worsening water situation in Jakarta and other major
cities, most noticeably affects the poor and poses a serious
public health hazard, report The Jakarta Post's Ida Indawati
Khouw, Maria Endah Hulupi and Pandaya.

JAKARTA (JP): "After the heavy rain, a beautiful rainbow
stretches down this road, right here, for everyone to see," said
Ikin, with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Everybody in the neighborhood takes the sight for granted."

Is Ikin joking? Probably. But the blue collar worker of a
garment factory was talking about a serious problem in his
neighborhood of Semanan, West Jakarta, where garment factories
and very crowded residential areas exist side by side.

"Rainbow" is a metaphor he uses to describe the neighborhood's
classic colors: red, green, blue, black... all the colors that
run down the overflowing narrow gutter where major factories dump
untreated industrial waste.

The gutter empties into River Mogot, which like any other
river in the capital, is notoriously polluted. The water is
thick, black and stinky because it serves as a dump for domestic
and industrial waste.

Along River Mogot, which is virtually stagnant during the dry
season, live thousands of impoverished families who rely on
groundwater supplies for drinking, bathing, cooking.

Many Jakarta townsfolk may not be aware that by dumping waste
in the river, they are poisoning each other. Although Jakarta had
launched Prokasih (Clean River Program) more than 10 years ago,
all of the city's 13 rivers remain heavily polluted.

Factories, families and people in the street dump their toxic
waste into the river without proper treatment, while an estimated
90 percent of shallow wells (up to 40 meters deep) in Jakarta
have been polluted by domestic waste.

Seawater intrusion

Intrusion of brackish water also poses a serious problem to
people living in the coastal area. Look at Marunda, a somewhat
"isolated" subdistrict in Jakarta Bay. It is a typical slum area
where potable water is scarce.

The swampy area by the sea, which has been jokingly, though
rightly, called "Jakarta's toilet", is devoid of potable water
unless one is rich enough to afford a powerful machine capable of
pumping out water from a depth of 80 meters.

Residents, mostly fishermen living in houses built on stilts,
have to buy drinking water for Rp 750 per jerrycan (approximately
15 liters). In the rainy season, they save on costs by catching
rain water.

When a dam in East Jakarta recently burst and disrupted water
supplies from state-run water enterprise, PAM, the price of water
soared to Rp 1,500 a jerrycan.

"We had to queue for hours to get water from a nearby water
pump," said ibu Dedeh, a resident of Marunda Baru.

In North Jakarta, where the water crisis is most severe due to
its proximity to the sea, only 50 percent of the population have
access to drinking water services. The rest have to buy it from
traders.

The increasingly complicated water crisis has seriously
affected the low-income bracket, who have no access to clean
water services. If there is any party that benefits from the
crisis, it is undoubtedly the bottled water companies.

On the other extreme, many wealthy people take water for
granted. It is common knowledge that many wealthy people in
expensive housing complexes pump ground-water for their private
swimming pools, robbing water resources from the neighborhood.

At the height of the 1997 dry season, a resident of a housing
complex in Duri Kosambi, West Jakarta, was forced to dismantle
his high-powered jet pump system by neighbors who believed he had
drained groundwater in the neighborhood.

In industrial centers like Greater Jakarta, limited water
sources are "fought for" by households and industry.

In its May edition, Warta Konsumen, a newsletter published by
the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), reported that 30
percent of the water used in industry is groundwater, 60 percent
surface water and tap water from PAM accounts for a mere 10
percent of its total use of water.

The slack enforcement of the law on the exploitation of
groundwater and the inadequate tap water supply has encouraged
excessive exploitation of groundwater by both industry and
individuals alike.

Health hazards

The water crisis has sparked health concerns. Even tap water
is not guaranteed to be free from contamination by heavy metals.
For example, YLKI found in a 1990 survey that Jakarta PAM water
contained 0.0024 ppm of mercury, 2.4 higher than the Health
Ministry standard of 0.001.

The unchecked dumping of waste has caused widespread pollution
in rivers across Indonesia. See the table below for details.

Heavy metal content in rivers in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan

(Metal, Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Health, Ministry, Standard):
(Cadmium, 0.04, 0.20, 0.06, 0.005);
(Chromium, 0.03, 0.02, 0.04, 0.05);
(Copper, 0.14, 0.13, 0.00, --);
(Iron, 9.25, 3.40, 10.55, 1.0);
(Manganese, 0.48, 0.48, 0.50, 0.5);
(Nickel, 0.22, 0.12, 0.00, --);
(Lead, 0.43, 0.11, 0.00, 0.05);
(Zinc, 0.41, 0.09, 0.08, 0.15)

Source: Kualitas Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia, 1992

A toxicologist from the Jakarta Islamic Hospital Foundation,
Ahmad Hidayat, said that the water supplied from PDAM comes
mainly from rivers exposed to household waste. As for underground
water, the quality depends on location. In coastal areas, the
water is usually unpotable due to sea intrusion, while those in
high density areas are contaminated with various disease-causing
organisms, such as E.coli bacteria.

In crowded residential areas, septic tank and wells are
usually too close to each other. The law requires that the
minimum distance is 20 meters.

Good drinking water is clear, odorless, free from silt, metals
or contaminating organisms -- a requirement that PAM has yet to
achieve.

Long-term exposure to heavy metal pollutants, existing in the
air and water are not tangible but lead to health problems
affecting the nervous system, organs, creating muscle pain,
reducing intelligence and triggering a chronic fatigue syndrome.

Studies on minerals show that mercury can cause mental
retardation, gait and visual impairment; abnormal lead levels are
associated with a lack of attention, increased impulsiveness,
aggression and erratic behavior; while aluminum intoxication may
contribute to hyperactivity.

Ahmad suggested that the public are advised to find a reliable
filter to remove harmful substances and boil water properly to
kill any hazardous living organisms.

"A good boiling pan is also necessary to avoid possible
aluminum contamination from the pan," he said.

Water testing is available at the laboratory of state-owned
surveyor Sucofindo on Jl. Arteri Tol Cibitung, Bekasi.