The capital relies mostly on the Citarum located in the neighboring province of West Java as the river supplies 81 percent of the city’s raw water supply. The city’s own Pesanggrahan and Krukut rivers can only supply 6 percent of the city’s clean water needs. The rest is purchased from Tangerang regency-run water company PDAM Tirta Kerta Raharja.

As tap water coverage is below 60 percent, Jakarta, which uses 18,000 liters of tap water per second (lps) through 850,615 distribution networks, will need another 4,000 lps to achieve full service coverage.

Lacking adequate water treatment plants, as well as only having access to heavily polluted water, reaching the goal of universal coverage seems like a long way away.

Governor Anies Baswedan said to tackle the issue and boost coverage, the administration saw a window of opportunity from the potential utilization of water resources considering several new water treatment plants will start operating between now and 2029.

The new plants, which include the Hutan Kota water treatment plant in North Jakarta, Buaran 3 in East Jakarta, Jatiluhur 1 in West Java and Karian in Banten, will have a combined capacity of 11,650 lps.

“We need until 2029 to accomplish complete coverage,” he said in his speech at a seminar held by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) on Monday.

Anies expressed hope that the central government would help restore the capacity of the Tarum Barat channel, also known as the Kali Malang, which is part of the Citarum River, to 22,000 lps from 17,000 lps at present.

Another challenging issue in providing full-service coverage is tackling water loss, which stands at 44.3 percent.

President director of city-owned water company PT PAM Jaya Priyatno Bambang Hernowo said water was mainly lost because of aging distribution pipes, while theft and metering inaccuracies also presented significant problems.

He said it would need approximately Rp 4 trillion (US$271 million) of investment to significantly reduce water leakage.

Achieving universal access to clean water for Jakartans will not be an easy task, with approximately Rp 35 trillion of investment required, Priyatno told The Jakarta Post.

Despite the new facilities on the way, the heavily polluted Citarum River is another concern as the water sourced from it inevitably needs more complex and expensive treatment.

“The more polluted the Citarum River the higher the water treatment cost. Cooperation with state-owned company Perum Jasa Tirta II only guarantees water quantity,” Anies said.

Moreover, pollution makes it more difficult for the city to rely on its own rivers.

Hence, the use of reservoirs and lakes that contain 5.9 million cubic meters of water should also be considered, he added.

Anies emphasized collaborating with the West Java administration in preventing pollution in the Tarum Barat channel as well as rehabilitating the Citarum.

“Community development on the Citarum’s riverbanks is very important [...] because it is not only the government involved, but also the effort of all stakeholders,” he concluded.

BPK member Rizal Djalil concurred with Anies, who said in his speech that the water quality of the Citarum had not improved for years, even after the recent Citarum Harum (Fragrant Citarum) program.

Rizal said the problem was largely down to agriculture and livestock activities that led to erosion and sedimentation from the river’s upstream in Bandung regency.

He added that untreated domestic and industrial waste water was discharged in the river, which is also full of trash.

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