Almost one third of the local drinking water companies (Perusahaan Daerah Air Minum, or PDAM) in Indonesia may not be able to meet the clean water requirements of their communities. Can inefficient performance of the PDAMs be blamed?

From a study conducted by the Indonesian national advisory board (Bappenas) and the organization of drinking water companies (Persatuan Perusahaan Air Minum, or Perpamsi) in November 1998, 87 of the 303 PDAMs in Indonesia are in "critical" condition, meaning that those communities have difficulty finding enough clean water for their daily needs.

Preliminary analysis estimates that PDAMs cannot afford increasing operational costs. "Prices of parts, chemical substances, and electricity tariffs have compromised our ability to serve the community," one PDAM employee said.

According to Beni Chatib, the Executive Director of Perpamsi, besides the increasing operational cost, inefficiency of PDAM’s management is the most crucial factor. "One way to handle this issue is to find potential elements of PDAM’s management which can be enhanced," he remarked.

If an immediate solution can not be found, Indonesia may be threatened by a shortage of drinking water. "The disturbance of clean water supplies will directly impact the community and in turn worsen poverty levels, increase sanitary problems, and generate epidemic diseases," said Rama Boedi, chairperson of the Indonesian Society of Sanitary and Environmental Engineers (IATPI).

WET

For that reason, a special team has been established to handle this problem, called the Water Efficiency Team (WET). WET is part of the social safety net under the Rapid Response Plan that is being carried out by the United States–Asia Environmental Partnership (US-AEP), IATPI, and consultants from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in cooperation with Perpampsi. US-AEP has allocated US $400,000 to this project.

WET works in three phases. The first phase is a performance audit of PDAMs including a study of financial statements, administration, and technical performance by April 1999. The second phase, from April to October 1999, is to give recommendations to the PDAMs regarding necessary actions to be taken or not to be taken. It also includes possible involvement of the private sector. The cooperation includes provision of parts and chemical substances. The last phase is to consolidate the second phase deliverables and provide solutions to the entire PDAM.

During the first phase, WET will conduct direct investigations of the critical PDAMs. "Not all PDAMs will be visited because the problems are mostly similar. We plan to visit 15 PDAMs as the samples," Rudi Yuwono of IATPI explained. Up to now 10 PDAMs have been visited.

Inefficiency of PDAM

From the preliminary observations, one critical issue is the inefficiency of PDAMs’ management. "Consider the formula for alum in the water; knowing the exact measurement will save operational costs. Too much alum means more money. Besides, too much alum will make the water dirty. The impact on health is also very bad because it will give people stomach aches," Rudi added. For these matters IATPI is needed. In addition, IATPI is also planning to give technical training regarding this matter.

Another finding is that PDAM’s workforce may be too large. "In Indonesia one person serves an average of 111 consumers. It is not efficient. Ideally, one person should serve 200 customers, like in other countries," Beni Chatib clarified. According to Beni, what is needed now is to increase the operational capacity of the PDAMs to optimize them. The number of PDAMs is not important, but rather how they can work efficiently.

At this time, all the PDAMs in Indonesia have a capacity of 79,848 liters per second or 6.9 cubic meters per day. This number represents a 28% increase over the last two years. In terms of the source of the water, 62.9% is surface water, usually for large and medium-sized PDAMs with over 50,000 customers (Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, and East Timor). Smaller PDAMs with less than 50,000 customers (such as in Bali, NTB, NTT, Maluku, and Irian) usually use ground water.