Public entitled to the best water management

Public entitled to the best water management

Henry Heyneardhi, Indonesian Forum on Globalization (INFOG),
The Business Watch Indonesia, Solo, Central Java,
heyneardhi@watchbusiness.org

The government's service to the public as regards drinking
water management and supplies in Jakarta is very poor. Among
other deficiencies, this poor service is reflected in the fact
that only 600,000 people, or less than 5 percent of Jakarta's
population, have access to water supplies from the city water
firm, PDAM. Some 70 percent of the population meet their needs
for water from low or deep wells, and the remaining 30 percent
depend on river water. The poor service in Jakarta's provision of
clean water to its residents is closely linked to corruption and
the administration's poor performance. Therefore, as The Jakarta
Post wrote on Sept. 14, corruption eradication and the
enforcement of the laws and regulations constitute part of the
solution to the problems related to water resources management.

This would be quite appropriate but still be inadequate,
particularly in the face of the recent trends in water resources
management. The proposed solution starts from an assumption that
the government -- at the central and local levels -- has full
control, either as a regulator or a service provider. However,
considering present circumstances, such power will slowly but
surely diminish and shift to another power center, the private
sector.

In Indonesia, this tendency is shown by the increasing number
of private companies involved in water resources management that
act as providers of clean water services, including those that
are also global water industry giants. There are now at least
five transnational companies operating in various localities in
Indonesia, namely Biwater in Batam, Suez-Lyonnaise and British
Thames in Jakarta, Waterleiding Maatschappij Drenthe in Manado
and Cascal BV in Pekanbaru, Riau.

In line with the worsening performance of most local water
utilities (PDAMs) in Indonesia, this shift of management to
private hands will clearly continue. As reported by the All-
Indonesian Association of Drinking Water Companies (Perpamsi), of
292 PDAMs in Indonesia, only 29 PDAMs can be placed in the
"sound" category while the remaining 263 PDAMs continue to
sustain losses and build up debts so far worth a total of Rp 4
trillion. Even the central government, represented by the
Directorate General of City Planning, has offered to allow the
private sector to manage drinking water companies.

It is true, therefore, that the government has done a lousy
job in water management and the provision of drinking water
services to the community. However, the solution must not entail
the delegation of water resources management to the private
sector. Various studies show that water management by the private
sector has a number of adverse impacts, including a widening gap
in access to clean water, layoffs, and even less transparency and
accountability to the public.

The private sector always has the primary motive of maximizing
profits. Therefore, in the various cases of water privatization
that have occurred, there has been a tendency to hike the price
of water. Further, for the private sector, the community is
considered as being made up of consumers who need water, and not
as citizens entitled to have access to clean water.

If water is managed by the private sector, members of the
community will only gain access as long as they can afford it --
to the disadvantage of the poor.

To maximize profits, reductions in manpower, or layoffs, are
common. This was the case in Manila, where the privatization of
water management caused a significant reduction in manpower. The
same tendency is likely in the case of water privatization in
Jakarta; lately the employees of the city's water firm, PAM Jaya,
have been forced to choose whether to resign voluntarily or
become employees of Lyonnaise or Thames Jaya.

In the private sector, the management is only responsible to
the company's shareholders, leading to loss of control by the
public. The local community will thus be unable to influence
policies related to price increases, water quality and the
construction of new pipeline networks or connections, unlike in a
case where water management and provision is in the hands of
public agencies like the PDAMs.

What can be done to ensure a sustainable water management
pattern? The public should indeed demand that the government
seriously play its role as a regulator and provider of clean
water for the community, as the Post suggested. The public must
also be involved more frequently in water resources management,
for instance through a water management council at the local
level.

The local community, as written by Maude Barlow in his book
Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water,
which was published this year, is the best guardian and manager
of water because practices that endanger water resources will be
most easily detectable at the local level. Therefore, it is very
important to make the local community the guardian of water
resources and to ensure that in this respect its position is
parallel to that of the government. The local community must set
up a water management council, the members of which represent
various local interests.

This council should act as a partner for the local government
in controlling water management, monitoring water pollution and
promoting wise management practices. A water resource management
council may urge the local community to develop awareness about,
for example, the significance of water resources conservation and
reclamation. In its relations with the local administration, this
council should represent the local community by being involved in
every process concerning the formulation and adoption of policies
on water management.

Most importantly, the council must always promote the rights
of all community members to have access to clean water.

The presence of such a council would democratize the
management of water resources. It would be able to guarantee that
the management of resources vital to human life is always under
public control and supervision. In this way, there will never be
a situation in which a decision on water management will be left
to only a handful of people, especially those who are only
profit-oriented.