Clean Water Crisis In West Banjarmasin, DPRD Asks PDAM To Quickly Solve Problems

Illustration of clean water supply from PDAM. (Between-Iggoy)

KALSEL - The Banjarmasin City Council has encouraged the local Regional Drinking Water Company (PDAM) to solve the clean water crisis in the West Banjarmasin area.

Chairman of Commission II DPRD Banjarmasin Awan Subarkah said that the clean water crisis that has hit residents so far has not been resolved is the reason the board members summoned the Banjarmasin PDAM directors.

"We are looking for a solution, not judging the PDAM," said Awan after a meeting with the Banjarmasin PDAM directors at the local DPRD building, Thursday, May 19.

According to him, the problem of the water crisis in the West Banjarmasin area, which residents have been informed of for more than a month, must be dealt with as soon as possible and the council also hopes to provide a solution.

According to Awan, the problem is with the distribution piping because many old pipes are 30 years old heading towards West Banjarmasin so that the thrust cannot be maximized.

"PDAM reasoned that if it was increased more maximally, the main pipe could burst. This is even more serious," he said, as quoted by Antara.

Therefore, the long-term solution is to renovate the pipeline, which will cost a lot of money. However, he wanted to know this short-term solution.

"It's a pity if it drags on, the community has difficulty with clean water, so we emphasize that there must be an appropriate solution," he said.

The Operational Director of PDAM Bandarmasih Supian said that a quick solution to overcome the water crisis in the West Banjarmasin area was to increase the water distribution power, but it could not be maximized.

"The important thing is that it flows first, the rest we place water reservoirs in areas where the water flow is less than optimal. Everything is free," he said.

His party is also 24 hours in the field to solve this problem so that customers can enjoy clean water again.

"The problem is with the pipes that are very old. We want to increase the distribution power, we are worried that the pipe will break, if it breaks, the problem is even more serious. Currently, it is the suburbs," he said.

Supian said that if a pipe renovation from the Water Treatment Plant on Jalan A. Yani was carried out to the West Banjarmasin area, a budget of Rp 90 billion would be required.

"Because a new pipe planting drill system has to be drilled, the length can be up to hundreds of kilometers. Therefore, the cost is huge," said Supian.