Tambora residents complain of dirty, foul-smelling PAM water

Jakarta (ANTARA) — Residents in the Jembatan Besi area, Tambora, West Jakarta, have again complained about difficulties obtaining clean water, with PAM Jaya water recently flowing dirty and emitting an unpleasant odour. On Monday (2 March), the supply did appear to run, but residents reported the water was dirty and smelt like sewer water. Dian, head of RT 07/RW 03 Jembatan Besi, said this when contacted on Wednesday in Jakarta. According to Dian, residents were surprised because after a long dry spell, water from PAM Jaya pipes suddenly turned dirty and smelt of sewers. Since Sunday (1 March), according to Dian, PAM water had flowed albeit in very small volume or trickling. Then on Tuesday (2 March) the water supply completely stopped until today. ‘Because here some residents keep the taps on, so it’s easy to see when there is water. Yesterday it only dripped, but it was dirty,’ Dian said. To follow up on the issue, PAM Jaya Senior Manager Corporate & Customer Communications Gatra Vaganza said they are still working to fix the pipeline network which is currently clogged. He said PAM Jaya continues to dispatch one water tanker to the location every day to meet residents’ needs in RW 03. ‘We are still providing one tanker every day to the location,’ he said. It is known that PAM water in RW 03 Jembatan Besi, Tambora, West Jakarta has had problems since the end of January 2025. The disturbance initially was caused by a burst pipe resulting from excavation work for the Latumeten flyover project. However, after the pipe repair was completed, it turned out there was a blockage in the network of pipes leading to the RW 03 Jembatan Besi settlement. To date, residents still have to rely on water from tanker trucks to meet daily needs.