[Nasional-e] Clean water -- clean govt?

[Ambon]

The Jakarta Post
Sept. 15, 2002

Clean water -- clean govt?

If anything could be said to illustrate the dismal state of Jakarta's public
services, the shortage of potable water in this city that borders the sea
and is traversed by rivers is as good an example as any.
To cite a few statistics: Only about 600,000 people, or less than five
percent of the city's population of more than 10 million, have access to
water supplied by city-owned water company PAM Jaya, which is the
distributor of clean water in Jakarta. The rest must resort to drilling
either shallow or deep wells or tapping water from the city's badly
contaminated rivers. About 70 percent of those rely on groundwater from
wells, while the remainder depend on river water.
This is not to mention the quality of the water, even the purportedly clean
water, produced by a number of water companies and supplied to clients by
PAM Jaya. Bambang Budi, a resident who is also a PAM Jaya client and lives
in Cilandak, South Jakarta, complained, in an interview published in this
newspaper recently, "I buy dirty water at expensive rates." Another
resident, Yose, who lives in Kayu Jati in East Jakarta complained that his
water was muddy, especially after heavy rain. Similar complaints can be
easily heard by anyone who cares to listen to residents' grievances about
Jakarta's public services.
Mochamad Ali, a hydrology expert employed at the Ministry of Resettlement
and Regional Infrastructure, has warned the public to be careful when
consuming tap water supplied by PAM Jaya, even when it looks clean. This is
because the filtering system that the company employs fails to screen
micro-pollutants and disease-causing bacteria that are carried by the
severely contaminated river water, which companies use as their raw water.
Furthermore, the practice of adding chlorine to treat water could lead to
the formation of new compounds that are believed to be carcinogenic.
A study carried out by the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) about a
decade ago found that Jakarta's tap water contained an average of 0.0024 ppm
of mercury, which is more than twice as high as the 0.001 limit set by the
Ministry of Health. A University of Indonesia study conducted last year
suggested that detergents were among the pollutants that contaminate well
water and raw water used by tap water firms, including PAM Jaya.
Nor, generally speaking, does the groundwater in Jakarta seem to be that
much better. Overpopulation and the absence of a sanitation system are the
reasons why it is virtually impossible in Jakarta to drill a well far enough
removed from sources of pollution, such as contaminated rivers or waste
disposal tanks, to be safe. In addition, the uncontrolled digging of deep
wells is causing the increased intrusion of salt water from Jakarta's
coastal areas. What this has all led to is that wells are being dug deeper
and deeper and that in the worst-affected areas the land is in danger of
subsiding.
As water is one of the most fundamental needs of mankind, the question that
demands an urgent answer is, what can be done to stop this alarming trend?
Better enforcement of existing rules and regulations is obviously part of
the solution. But improbable though it may seem to some, another is the
eradication of corruption. The issuance of drilling permits and use of
groundwater in Jakarta are regulated by Gubernatorial Decree No.744/1995.
However, so far, few, if any, sanctions appear to have been imposed on
either individuals or companies that have broken the law.
Corruption is also believed to be the factor that has encouraged
unscrupulous individuals to tap the PAM Jaya network for water, to be resold
to households not as yet connected to the PAM Jaya network. Water, it must
be remembered, is a basic commodity without which life is impossible. For
this reason, its availability to all is guaranteed by the Constitution. It
seems to be high time that the Jakarta city administration take a good look
at the water situation in this city. With all the problems Jakarta is
already facing, the city hardly needs another source of frustration and
dissatisfaction that could eventually lead to unrest.