The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar expressed concern over a report showing that Jakartans living in slums have to allocate a larger portion of their income for clean water than people in high-income areas in the capital.
""I was concerned but not surprised by the report. This is a wakeup call for all residents to take better care of the environment. (The water crisis) is due to human blunders,"" Rachmat told The Jakarta Post.
He said that uncontrolled development in Jakarta and its upstream areas were the main cause of poor supply and quality of water forcing residents to spend more on clean water.
""We are now in a critical situation regarding clean water, especially in populated areas like Jakarta and other cities on Jawa island. However, people are not yet unaware of it,"" he said.
The minister cited the United Nations Development Program's (UNDP) 2006 Human Development report: Beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the global water crisis.
The report said that people living in the slums of Jakarta, Manila and Nairobi paid five to 10 times more for water per unit than those in high-income areas of the respective cities.
It said that poor families in the slums areas also spent more for water than consumers pay in London or New York.
It said that almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than US$2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.
The report said that the limited access to clean water and poor sanitation were serious problems undermining human progress in many developing Asian countries.
It recommended that all governments guarantee every person at least 20 liters of clean water a day and spent at least 1 percent of GDP on water and sanitation.
Jakarta has long experienced a water crisis since it has no control over supply of raw water which comes mostly from its upstream areas in Bogor, Depok, Bekasi and Tangerang.
The city's water companies supply water to only half of Jakarta residents, while millions of others still rely on groundwater. However, due to the poor quality of water, residents use it only for bathing or washing clothes. They have to buy water sold in jerry cans for cooking or drinking.
Data from the Jakarta administration indicates that the city has a water deficit of 36 million cubic meters per year from the total demand of 400 million cubic meters.
The city administration is currently drafting a bylaw on water to seek alternative water sources by promoting new technology such as transforming seawater into potable water.
A law requiring residents or building's owners to set up water catchment wells to fill with groundwater may also be enforced.
Rachmat said that catchment areas and rivers traversing the big cities had been damaged due to rapid commercial development.
In addition, said Rachmat, the vegetation to retain water has also continued to diminish causing a repeated water crisis in the dry season and floods in the rainy season.
The State Ministry for the Environment is responsible for improving the quality of the water, while the Public Works Ministry is responsible for securing the supply of water.
