W

hile the city’s water company strives to provide clean water for all residents, illegal use of groundwater is prevalent in Jakarta, with violators including high-rise buildings.

Amrta Institute for Water Literacy director Nila Ardhianie said the lack of water pipe networks in the city had prompted high-rise buildings in Jakarta to illegally suck up groundwater by constructing their own wells. According to Amrta, the use of groundwater in Jakarta has been consistently high for years as city water company PAM Jaya only supplies 35 percent of clean water required by residents.

“The administration can’t monitor and close the [groundwater] wells as it doesn’t have access to the wells,” Nila said.

The administration has announced that it would raid at least 80 high-rise buildings along Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin suspected of various water violations.

Governor Anies Baswedan led a raid on Monday at Sari Pan Pacific Hotel, a renowned hotel that has existed on Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, for decades.

As of Tuesday, the team raided 10 buildings, including Wisma Indocement, Landmark Building Tower 1 and Tower 2, which are all located on Jl. Sudirman.

Nila said according to Jakarta Governor Regulation No. 38/2017 on groundwater tax collection, each building should apply for a permit before constructing a groundwater well. However, in practice, some buildings make illegal wells to suck more groundwater in order to evade taxes.

PAM Jaya president director Erlan Hidayat said water pipeline coverage in the city was only at 60 percent, “meaning not all areas in the city have water pipelines and access to clean water.”

To increase the coverage of water pipelines in the capital, he explained that PAM Jaya was developing a new water production installation (IPA) in Hutan Kota, Penjaringan, North Jakarta.

The construction of IPA Hutan Kota began in May last year and is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The new installation, which will provide water to the Tegal Alur and Kamal Muara areas, is projected to supply water to around 50,000 residents.

Jakarta Corruption Prevention Committee member Nursyahbani Katjasungkana said the body was investigating possible corruption in the illegal use of groundwater, adding that the practice did not only reduce the city’s tax base, but also caused ecological damage.

“The illegal use of groundwater also jeopardizes residents’ health,” she said.

Nila said there were building management teams who tampered with water meters to reduce their tax bills.

The fraudulent act is often carried out through a collaboration between building management teams and officials from the water company, Nila said.

To solve the problem, PAM Jaya should speed up water pipe construction in Jakarta, “The city should also limit the use of groundwater as well as improve sanitation and drainage infrastructure,” she said.

Erlan said the water company would focus on expanding its water production installation.

In addition to IPA Hutan Kota, Jakarta possesses seven more IPAs across the capital including IPA Buaran, IPA Pulo Gadung, IPA Pejompongan 1 and IPA Pejompongan 2.

Erlan said he also planned to build another IPA in Pesanggrahan, South Jakarta, to increase water pipeline coverage, but PAM Jaya would prioritize the completion of IPA Hutan Kota first.