Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
At the end of each workday, Ali Achmadi chucks the waste from his motorcycle garage, including detergent, used lubricant oil and pieces of scrap iron, into nearby Kalimalang River.
For his workshop, like the dozens of other businesses along Jl. Kalimalang in East Jakarta, the river is a convenient waste disposal system.
""It is easier and cheaper. I don't have to worry about my waste because the river has already taken care of it. No one complains although I have done it for several years,"" the 43 year old said confidently.
But it shows in the dark brown river water, flowing from West Java's Saguling, Cirata and Jatiluhur reservoirs, which becomes a turgid black in some spots. Garbage, including plastic bags and oil, not to mention untreated household waste, is carried along with the water.
Only a few kilometers away from Ali's garage, British-based water operator Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ), one of two companies responsible for distributing piped water for Jakartans, processes the river water at its Buaran water processing unit.
Company officials warn that the state of the river water is deteriorating.
""The river water gets dirtier ever day. We need more time and chemicals to turn it into piped water,"" the company's after production manager, Sri W Kaderi, told The Jakarta Post.
In addition to the dumping of industrial and household garbage into the river, Kalimalang gets additional pollution from a tributary, the Bekasi River.
At least 20 large-scale factories of textile, shoes and fertilizer use Bekasi River to dump their industrial waste.
Senior commissioner of French-based piped water operator Pam Lyonaisse Jaya (Palyja) Bernard Lafrogne said Bekasi River was a significant contributor to the pollution in Kalimalang.
He said it was becoming more expensive to treat the water to make it fit for customers.
""Prices of chemicals used to purify the river water have risen sharply by an average of 80 percent. So our operational costs also increased along with the worsening condition of river water,"" he told the Post.
Despite the flouting of the city bylaw barring the disposal of garbage into river systems, the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency argues that, barring catching the industries red-handed dumping their waste, it lacks evidence to prosecute specific businesses.
Lafrogne proposed the government build a siphon, or special channel, for Bekasi River so that its water did not flow into Kalimalang River.
Beside high pollution from waste, the quality and quantity of piped water are also affected by the high level of turbidity (sediment) and inconsistent water supply from Jatiluhur reservoir, which is managed by state-owned water company Perum Jasa Tirta II, to the river.
Lafrogne said mud made many parts of the river shallow, affecting the capability of the river to hold water as well as its turbidity.
A high turbidity level also negatively affects water supply to customers because operators are forced to decrease water distributed amid poor quality raw water.
""Recently, we received raw water with high turbidity. As the water quality is too bad to be processed, we must scale down our level of water production,"" Sri said.
Over the last three weeks, TPJ has decreased its water production by 13 percent to 7,800 liters per second after the level of turbidity of raw water reached 16,000 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Unit), or seven times higher than the allowed standard for raw water.
As a result, the company acknowledged that service would be disrupted to customers in some areas, who would receive less water or none at all.
