PTAM Mataram Launches Besari Village To Protect Water Sources

PT Air Drinking Giri Wins (PTAM) Perseroda, West Lombok Regency, Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province, launching a Waste-Free Village and Water Pollution (Besar) in Peresak Village, Narmada District, as a form of maintaining springs.

The declaration was coupled with PTAM Giri's 45th Anniversary, which was marked by the beating of Gendang Beleq by the Deputy Regent of West Lombok Regency Nurul Ahda accompanied by the President Director of PTAM Sudirman in Narmada, West Lombok Regency, Saturday.

President Director of PTAM Sudirman said Peresak Village was chosen as the pilot location for Besari Village because it was the location for the southern spring.

The Besari program will be carried out by assisting local residents in how to maintain the quality of environmental cleanliness by educating the prohibition of littering, processing waste into compost, liquid fertilizer, economical-valued goods and others, so that the quality of water sources is maintained.

"Residents in Peresak Village will continue to be accompanied until they are independent," he said.

When Peresak Village is independent, he continued, something similar will be transmitted to other villages, so that people have the same commitment in efforts to maintain the quality of water sources in their respective environments.

"Clean water sources support the lives of various water organisms and maintain the balance of the water ecosystem," he said.

The declaration activity of Besari Village was also marked by tree planting in the Narmada Capital City Drinking Water Processing Installation (IKK) area and the symbolic handover of student duties for elementary, junior high, high school, and undergraduate education levels.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Regent (Wabup) of West Lombok Regency, Nurul Ahda, on this occasion expressed his appreciation for the performance and program of PTAM which has been able to provide clean water services in two working areas, namely West Lombok Regency and Mataram City.

However, he continued, in the future PTAM is expected to have a bigger program to improve services in areas with plateaus or hills that are still water-deficient. "Like in the Bayu Urip, Bumise, and Sekotong areas of West Lombok," he said.

Geographical conditions in West Lombok Regency are indeed not as easy as Mataram City, which is relatively flat, so to meet the needs of clean water for people in the highlands, local government support and strong cooperation are needed.

Even when he carries out the campaign, people in the highlands on average ask whether after being elected they can provide clean water services or not. "That means, providing clean water services should be the responsibility of the government," he said.

Therefore, he said, the local government should provide a larger subsidy of investment capital to PTAM so that its services can target people in the highlands and the poor.

"If there is no strong cooperation between the local government and PTAM, it will be difficult and difficult to provide services to poor areas," he said.

This will certainly have an impact on, the harder it will be for local governments to reduce the poverty rate when it is recorded at 12 percent for the poor and 1.57 percent for extreme poverty.

"Therefore, we hope that PTAM will develop and the local government will provide greater support so that collaboration increases clean water coverage and stronger poverty management," he said.