Minister Basuki Proposes Clean Water Inpres To Jokowi

BADUNG - Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono responded that there are still many households in Indonesia that do not have access to clean water.

Minister Basuki said discussions on access to clean water would also be brought to the World Water Forum 2024.

"This is a world forum and it (clean water access) is a national forum. It must be discussed, it's called water justice. We are discussing it in water justice globally from small islands. I met the small islands yesterday, I forgot their names, there was no rain at all, no freshwater. The freshwater is 100 percent from desalination, and the population is only 500 thousand people," said Basuki, during a press conference at the "2nd Stakeholder Consulting (SCM) World Water Forum 2024" event in Jimbaran, Badung Regency, Bali, Thursday, October 12.

According to Basuki, it is necessary to make a Presidential Instruction (Inpres) regarding clean water. This Presidential Instruction is to prepare clean water channels for the community.

"We propose it, because at least this Thursday there is a Ratas (Limited Meeting) for clean water inpres. Because we still need about 10 million house connections to be able to prepare water for the community," he said.

"We will propose a clean water inpres to the President (Jokowi). If later we get permission from the president, it will be one way out. Now this is for flatting or for drinking water originating from the pipe, it is not more than 20 percent in Indonesia but for healthy water around 80 percent. So we want to quickly supply this good water by going through a clean water inpres," he said.

Based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020, only 83 percent of Indonesian households have access to safe drinking water. This means that there are still around 17 percent of households who do not have access to clean drinking water.

The same thing was shown by data released by WaterAid. Indonesia is ranked 140th out of 193 countries in the 2022 Drinking Water Availability and Quality Index. Indonesia scored 52.5 out of 100, with 60.1 percent of the population having access to clean and decent water.

Access to clean and decent water in Indonesia is still a big challenge. In 2022, there are still 35.3 million people in Indonesia who do not have access to clean and proper water. The majority of people who do not have access to clean water and deserve to live in rural areas.