In the summer of 1858, London was invaded, not by insurgents or bandits, but by a pungent stench that oozed from its ditches, the river Thames, and even from beneath the fanciest of floorings.

This period is known as “The Great Stink”, the peak of London’s centuries-long sanitation malady.

When the odor interfered with the work of the House of Commons by disturbing its meetings, it prompted official action.

The foul smell of poor sanitation has not yet found its way to the City Council’s office building, but still, Jakarta's sanitary condition is lagging far behind its urban growth.  

Statistics of 2006 World Bank data stated 70 percent of the groundwater in Indonesia's cities was heavily polluted with sewage bacteria from leaking septic tanks, while more than half of city dwellers use groundwater for everyday needs.  

“In low density urban areas, properly constructed septic tanks can be used with no adverse consequences on the groundwater or the environment. In dense urban housing areas, the use of septic tanks poses a high risk to the groundwater, rivers and the environment,” Isabel Blackett, a senior sanitation specialist from the World Bank, told The Jakarta Post.  

Government minimum service standards require sewerage connections other than septic tanks in urban areas of more than 300 people per hectare, she said.

The World Bank data stated that there are more than a million septic tanks in the capital, but there are no regulations restricting the number of septic tanks per area.  

Such a lack of regulations can be hazardous in a 661.52-square-kilometer city that houses more than 9.1 million people and has an abundance of densely populated neighbors, as well as slum areas, in which even septic tanks are considered luxuries and residents defecate in open spaces, such as rivers.  
“The most ideal system used in a city is the channeling of waste water through a centralized sewerage system,” said Nugroho Tri Utomo from the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas).  

Several areas in South and Central Jakarta, such as the Sudirman and Kuningan area, benefit from a waste treatment plant at the Setiabudi dam. However, this plant can only serve less than 3 percent of the city's population, and its work is frequently interrupted due to high power costs and flood threats.  

Firdaus Ali, an environmental expert from the University of Indonesia, said that the plant was never meant to serve the interests of many.

“It was just a pilot project and it also serves as a means to mitigate floods. Thus, when there is too much water in the dam, the waste treatment activity will be abandoned.”

He said that the ideal waste management system should consist of a centralized water treatment plant that could make Jakarta’s waste water suitable for drinking.

Neighboring country Singapore is currently using a modern sanitation system called the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS).

The system was first constructed in 2000 and was estimated to last 100 years, said Wah Yuen Long, director of the water reclamation plants of PUB, Singapore's national water agency.

The DTSS comprises a 48-kilometer-deep tunnel sewer, a centralized water reclamation plant, two deep sea outfall pipes, and 60 kilometers of linking sewers.

The Changi water reclamation plant is capable of treating 800,000 cubic meters of used waters a day.
Nugroho said it would cost Rp 20 trillion to construct a centralized sewage system for the city, which is almost equal to the administration’s 2009 budget this year.

“To equip one household with the necessary piping system will cost around Rp 3.5 million That does not include the treatment system.”

The high price was worth it, though, Nugroho said.

“The country regularly loses Rp 56 trillion a year from bad sanitation, which means that the city could lose Rp 5.6 trillion a year from the problem. But a good sanitation system could last us roughly up to 60 years.”

Nevertheless, the city is still taking baby steps to improve its system.  

“DKI is currently reviewing its sanitation system and the governor has already asked the Bappenas for support in improving its sanitation... But we must be sure that the region prioritizes sanitation in its list, including in terms of budget allocation.”

The outlook for Jakarta's sanitation and sewerage system was still bleak for the next decade or two, Nugroho said.  

“In the next 10 to 20 years, Jakarta will still be dominated by the septic tank scheme, combined with the neighborhood or regional waste management system,” he said.  

The latter was said by some to be a feasible temporary solution, while the wait for a fully centralized system continues.  

“There's an alternative of using a communal system, which can accommodate 100 to 200 households,” Nugroho said.  

Firdaus said that the communal or regional system has its own downside.  

“The building of regional treatment plants, for example, one in each municipality, will take up a lot of land.”

Furthermore, the city could not depend on such a system forever.  

“The sewage disposal challenges of a mega city like Jakarta cannot be solved only by communal sanitation systems. However, these systems do need to be part of the solution alongside investment in a centralized sewer and treatment system,” Blackett said.  

The authorities, in the meantime, must pay more attention to the maintenance of septic tanks, which will continue to be a common feature in the city's underground, Nugroho said.

“The quality of septic tanks in each neighborhood must be monitored. One idea is to impose a payment for each household to have their septic tanks emptied regularly.” (dis)

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