The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Water companies have urged the government to help them trap more rainwater to be processed and supplied to the city.
"The availability of raw water has become a big problem for us when it comes to providing clean water for the public," said Marju Kodri, the chairman of Perpamsi, an organization for regional water companies from throughout the country, at a seminar entitled "Where is my clean water?" held here last week.
The water supply in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, is 15,500 cubic meters per person per year, much more than the average water supply in other countries of 8,000 cubic meters.
But many in Indonesia, including Jakarta, face water shortages as natural springs shrink and processed clean water becomes more expensive.
"In Jakarta, around 70 percent of potential raw water from rain flows right into the ocean since all the rivers in the city are shallow and can't hold on to it," Marju said.
He said the city administration had to clean and dredge rivers to allow them to hold more rainwater.
Jakarta has 13 rivers flowing through it, including the Ciliwung, the city's biggest and its main source of water. Most city rivers have become heavily polluted and increasingly shallow, in part because of people building houses on riverbanks and throwing rubbish into the rivers.
Marju said it would be difficult for the city water company to provide enough clean water to the public if the city administration did not clean and dredge the rivers.
He said the country's 300 odd water companies could only provide clean water to around 25 percent of the population.
"It means we need to improve our production (capacity) to be able to reach the Millennium Development Goal of providing clean water to 80 percent of the population by 2015," he said.
Reducing the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by half is one of the targets in the Millennium Development Goals signed in September 2000 by 192 member states of the United Nations, including Indonesia.
It was difficult to meet the target, Marju said, since 60 percent of the water companies' revenue had to be transferred to local governments. He said it would cost the companies around Rp 43 trillion (US$4.8 billion) to upgrade their capacity.
"That's why the capacity of these water companies tends to be stagnant," he said.
A member of the Supporting Body for the Development of the Water Supply System at the Public Works Ministry, Amry Dharma, said the central government, the city administration, water supply companies and the public had to cooperate to overcome water supply shortages.
"The body will be a mediator for them to achieve their goal," he said, adding that the body would also try to encourage private companies to invest in the water supply business.
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