Water outage in West Ancol for a week, PAM Jaya targets recovery next week

JAKARTA — PAM Jaya is targeting a return to normal water distribution in West Ancol, Pademangan, North Jakarta, by next week at the latest, after flows were interrupted for a week and residents complained. Senior Manager Corporate & Customer Communication Gatra Vaganza said the company is repairing the distribution network to normalise the supply. ‘At the moment the team is carrying out network repairs in order to restore normality,’ he told Kompas.com on Tuesday (3 March 2026). ‘Our team conducted checks at Banjir Kanal Barat and found there is a possibility of contamination by diesel. But regarding what and how it became contaminated we do not yet know.’ ‘So in that situation at that time, we did ultimately adjust production. We reduced production levels to ensure we first determine the situation.’ According to Gatra, the Pademangan area is the farthest serviced from the Pejompongan Water Treatment Plant (IPA). Therefore, the impact of production cuts was felt first in that area. He added that the restoration cannot be done abruptly due to the risk of damaging ageing pipelines. ‘So if we jump directly to boosting the pumps, raising them, some pipes could burst because of the variety of pipe ages, ranging from about 100 years old to just one day old,’ he said. PAM Jaya said the restoration would be gradual and is targeted to be completed within a week. During the recovery period, PAM Jaya has deployed water tankers to West Ancol, with distribution at several points because RW coverage is broad. ‘We can have up to 10 tankers. They will operate in rounds, not concentrated at a single location since the RW areas are quite large; there will be several concentration points,’ he said. Earlier reports indicated residents of Jalan Ancol Barat I, RW 1, Pademangan, had complained that PAM water had not flowed for a week. The situation forced residents to fetch gallon water daily, especially during Ramadan. Rosidah (35) said she must bring about 10 gallons per day from the distribution point to her home about 100 metres away.