TPJ supplies water with the help of 26 tankers

JAKARTA (JP): PT Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ), one of city-owned water company PDAM Jaya's partners, announced on Friday that it had supplied over 140,000 liters of water to its customers experiencing water shortages following a rupture of the West Tarum canal in West Java.

John Hurcom, TPJ's president, said that the distribution of the water supplies was conducted with the help of 26 tankers deployed in a number of the affected areas, including Kramat Lontar, Cempaka Putih and Matraman.

"We have worked hard to ensure the customers have access to emergency water supplies. TPJ can be contacted 24 hours a day on 5772010," Hurcom said in a statement.

He said the customers might experience slight discoloration in their water because of the canal problem. "However, it is okay as long as it is boiled before being consumed," he said.

He said the firm is working together with Perum Otorita Jatiluhur (POJ) dam authority and the Ministry of Public Works to ensure the water supplies are back to normal.

The rupture, which occurred on Dec. 9, has reduced the volume of water passing through the city's treatment plants in Buaran and Pulogadung in East Jakarta and Pejompongan in Central Jakarta by 41 percent.

The usual volume of water passing through the plants is 16.3 cubic meters per second, but this has dropped to only 9.7 cubic meters.

A city administration circular said that the tap water supply to East and North Jakarta had been cut by 45 percent. In Central, South and the central part of North Jakarta, flows have been reduced by 30 percent. No details were available of disruptions to the supply in West Jakarta.

Meanwhile, Rama Boedi, PDAM Jaya's head, said that the city authority will "take a note of" demand for compensation for drinking water customers due to the water supply disruption.

He said that such a clause was not contained in the agreement. "It's quite difficult to meet the demand but we will discuss the matter with our business partners and other related institutions," he said.

Besides cooperating with TPJ, which manages and operates the water supply for the eastern part of Jakarta, PDAM Jaya also cooperates with Pam Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja), which supplies western Jakarta.

Rama said that should the demand be met the authority would really check out those who had suffered major losses due to the disruption.

Vice chairman of the Indonesian Consumers Organizations Agus Pambagio had said that the authorities should compensate drinking water customers for disruption for the sake of fair play as customers were punished immediately if they violated certain regulations as in the late payment of water bills. (ind/jun)