H

ave you ever stopped to wonder whether the water you consume every day is clean? Indonesia, being one of the world'€™s largest archipelagos, enjoys over 21 percent of the total freshwater available in the Asia-Pacific region.

Notwithstanding this, it has been labeled as the country with the most unfavorable water conditions in Southeast Asia. Article 5 of Indonesia'€™s Water Law No. 7/2004 states that '€œevery Indonesian has the right to water'€, but why is it that nearly one of every two Indonesians lacks access to safe water and more than 70 percent of the nation'€™s 220 million people relies on potentially contaminated sources? Indonesia has become a pollution hot spot as a result of its rapid urbanization and economic development, and it is the underprivileged that have to reap the consequences.

The water that we ultimately consume was once a victim of one of Asia'€™s worst sewerage networks. An incline in the pollution of surface-water sources through the leaking of sewage into groundwater, increased salinity from rising sea levels and overextraction by unregulated neighborhood wells and industries have caused the water to transform into a liquid so adulterated that it could cost us our lives.

Furthermore, the government is unable to undertake basic maintenance such as the removal of sludge from wastewater-treatment plants or repairs after natural disasters, amplifying the risk the water poses. Such unhealthy conditions mean that we are exposed to a variety of deadly diseases, many of which are waterborne, such as chronic respiratory diseases, intestinal parasitic diseases and diarrheal diseases.

It is argued that an increase in public funding for clean water infrastructure is the most rational approach for the public, but undoubtedly it is the limitation on the part of the municipality'€™s water providers that has forced us to fetch for ourselves.

NGOs, driven by the victimization of the marginalized, are doing a better job at allocating access and control of clean water to the public as compared to city government-run water company PDAM Jakarta.

Among these include the People'€™s Coalition for the Right to Water (KRuHA), representing cohesion between Indonesia'€™s water activists who attempt to reduce the opacity in Jakarta'€™s water services. Their main advocacy focus is on water as a human right.

Commercialization of a necessity such as water is morally unjust. Nevertheless, this hasn'€™t stopped leading firms from privatizing water, debunking the myth that tap water can be healthier and lighter on the pocket than bottled water. Over the past 15 years, Indonesia has witnessed a major behavioral shift toward dependency on bottled water. Inadequate sanitation, poor hygiene practices, overcrowding and contaminated sources have converged and driven away any hope of consuming water right from the tap.

The only breakthrough in this trend is the transition toward more '€œpoint of use'€ filtration systems '€” reverse osmosis being the alternative with the most potential.

Installing a reverse-osmosis filter at home is the ideal method of contaminant removal for areas that do not receive municipally treated water. This one-time investment may be expensive at first but it pays for itself just within one year and saves money every year thereafter.

Vanshika Virmani
Jakarta