PAM Jaya Prepares Technology to Repair Pipe Leaks Without Opening Roads

JAKARTA - PT PAM Jaya (Perseroda) is developing technology to reduce leaks in the clean water pipe network in Jakarta. This innovation allows repairs to be carried out from inside the pipe without having to dismantle the road.

PAM Jaya President Director Arief Nasrudin explained that this technology works by inserting a special gel into the network of pipes that are leaking. The gel will close the hole in the pipe.

"We first cleaned the pipe, he vacuumed it, and then entered the gel, he pushed it like that, he used what it was called, a round bullet. It was immediately this gel-nutup, then it was attached to the engine, what was the propellant, the water behind it was immediately followed and it immediately dried," said Arief at the DKI Jakarta City Hall, Wednesday, March 11.

With this method, repairs can be carried out without having to dig up the road, which has often caused traffic disruptions.

However, Arief emphasized that this technology is only effective for closing small-sized leaks. If the pipe damage is too large, repairs must still be carried out with conventional methods.

"Because this gel we make holes, the holes whose diameter is still in a scale that is quite large, yes, we can still patch it so we don't have to dismantle it," he explained.

In addition to addressing small leaks, PAM Jaya is also preparing a major step to reduce the rate of water loss through the Non-Revenue Water (NRW) program.

The program will be carried out by replacing and rehabilitating the water pipe network currently operating in Jakarta.

"Even this year we will launch the NRW project program. The replacement, rehabilitation of existing pipes in Jakarta, which will reach approximately 80 percent, will be approximately 7,000 to 8,000 kilometers," said Arief.

The project to replace the pipeline network is not entirely planned to use regional budgets. PAM Jaya will work with the private sector through a government and business entity cooperation scheme.

"But God willing, hopefully it won't burden the APBD, everything is a cooperation based on KPBU or Public Private Partnership," he concluded.

Currently, the coverage of piped water services in Jakarta continues to increase. PAM Jaya noted that clean water services have reached more than 80.24 percent of Jakarta's territory.

The network has a pipe length of 12,835.21 kilometers with a number of customers of 1,178,022. Meanwhile, the water distributed reaches 22,583 liters per second.

In terms of raw water sources, most of them still come from outside the Jakarta area. Around 92 percent of raw water comes from the Jatiluhur Dam in Purwakarta, while the remaining eight percent comes from sources in Jakarta.

For treated water, 88 percent also comes from outside Jakarta and 12 percent is produced from water treatment facilities within the city.

In connection with this, PAM Jaya also plans to operate an atmospheric water capture technology that can be directly processed into drinking water.

Arief said that the technology will be presented through cooperation with strategic partners from Switzerland. According to Arief, the technology in question is able to capture water vapor in the air, then process it into ready-to-drink water.

"Soon we will work with Switzerland. Later we will have a tool called trapping atmosphere. So they capture water points in the air. So our air is there, there is also some water. So it is captured, it is processed," said Arief.

Arief explained that the device does not require a source of raw water such as rivers or reservoirs. Water points captured from the atmosphere will be processed immediately to purify it into water that can be drunk immediately.

Currently, PAM Jaya has ordered the technology device and targets that in the next few months the device can be introduced to the public.

According to the plan, PAM Jaya will build water stations or water hubs along the Sudirman-Thamrin corridor after receiving approval from the Governor of DKI Jakarta Pramono Anung. The water produced can then be drunk directly for free by the community.

"Hopefully this year everything can go. Hopefully in the middle of this year we can groundbreaking. So this water hub or water station will be in Sudirman-Thamrin and it will be directly connected to the water," said Arief.

Continuing, the Chairman of Commission D of the DKI Jakarta DPRD, Yuke Yurike, emphasized that his party would continue to monitor the development program of the piped water network until all residents of Jakarta received clean water services.

According to Yuke, the DPRD ensures that the allocation of the budget for the development of the water network is actually used for the benefit of the community.

"The DPRD is very committed to ensuring that the budget allocation is really for the realization of targeted spending and for the benefit of the people of DKI Jakarta," said Yuke.

The DPRD will also oversee that the construction of the pipeline network can reach areas that have not been served.

"So what the DPRD gives, yes, it ensures that all programs, especially those related to pipanization that have been budgeted, cover all those who have not been reached so far," he said.

He emphasized that clean water services should be more in favor of small communities who have been having difficulty accessing decent water.

"We have to ensure that this is in favor of small communities, which have been neglected for a long time, not only for industries or for the big ones," he said.