45 Percent Water Leak Rate, PAM Jaya Admits Missing IDR 1 Trillion Per Year

Illustration. The RI-PNG Pamtas Task Force repairs water piping in Skouw Village, Jayapura on Saturday 11 July 2023. (Between)

JAKARTA - President Director of Perumda PAM Jaya Arief Nasrudin admitted that the level of non-revenue water (NRW) or water leakage, both physical leakage in pipe and PAM Jaya's water theft, currently still reaches 45 percent.

The main factor that causes the high level of NRW piping water in Jakarta is the condition of the pipe, which is tens of years to 100 years old since PAM was founded.

As a result, PAM Jaya loses revenue from piped water services of up to IDR 1 trillion each year if the old pipe is not replaced with a new one.

"Accumulated, absolutely, if we don't clean up 45 percent of NRW, that's equivalent to Rp1 trillion rupiah Every year. So, that's why we have to work quickly," Arief told reporters, Sunday, September 21.

Therefore, Arief admitted that the replacement of the old pipe must be carried out immediately. This is because 70 percent of PVC-type pipes are easily damaged and not food grade. This is what causes PAM Jaya's water to be drunk when it comes to the customer's house.

"The water that we have produced is clean water with drinking water quality, when it enters the house, in the end it can't be drunk, why? Because the material is still PVC. So like it or not, you have to dismantle the PVC pipe, you have to replace HDPE. It's complicated," explained Arief.

As a temporary solution, PAM Jaya issued a water purifier facility or product to filter PAM water from the tap so that it could directly drink without cooking.

Given, the new pipe change takes a long time and a very large cost. "It takes a very long time because the pipe is 12 thousand kilometers long," he added.