Difficulty In Getting Clean Water, Muara Angke Residents Bring Empty Jerry Cans To Anies' Office

Residents staged a demonstration in front of Anies Baswedan's office because of the lack of clean water (Photo: Diah/VOI)

JAKARTA - "Water! Water! Water!" shouted a number of residents in front of the DKI Jakarta City Hall building, Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta. Tuesday, February 22. Their eyes turned to the building where the Governor of DKI Anies Baswedan worked.

They are representatives of the residents of the Waste Block, Empang Block, and Eceng Block in Muara Angke, North Jakarta. The three villages in Muara Angke have a population of 4,068 people or 1,286 families.

The residents who gathered in front of Anies' office carried empty jerry cans without water in them. They show these jerry cans as evidence that their environment lacks clean water.

Not long after, the Assistant for Development and Environment of the DKI Jakarta Secretary Afan Adriansyah Idris came out of the building and approached them.

To Afan, one of the residents of Muara Angke named Nurweni explained the purpose of his visit. Nurweni said, since the first time his village grew in 1980 until now, there is no drinking water service provided by the DKI Provincial Government.

"So far, residents have been consuming drinking water by buying water sourced from refilled gallons of water and bottled water. Meanwhile, for their bathing needs, residents use water sourced from deep ground water and potted water," said Nurweni at the location, Tuesday, 22 February.

Nurweni admitted that the water, which is only available from commercial gallon packs, is consuming their pockets. He calculated that the need for drinking and cooking water for one family per day reached Rp. 13,000, while water for bathing and washing was Rp. 25,000 per day. Each month, a family can spend Rp1.14 million just for clean water. In response, Afan said that PAM Jaya BUMD has planned to place a water kiosk to meet the clean water needs of the residents of Muara Angke this year.

"This year, the PDAM will build a water kiosk. There are three villages in this village, right? The Empang Block, Sewage Block, Eceng Block, are already included in the program that will be carried out by PDAM this year," Afan explained.

Feeling dissatisfied with Afan's answer, Nurweni asked for confirmation regarding the date and month the water kiosk became available at her residence.

"If we have to wait a long time, what water should we drink, sir? We've been drinking ground water, river water. Sir, we ask for a decision on the month and date," said Nurweni.

Afan still cannot say the exact time the water kiosk will be installed. However, Afan guaranteed that he would ask PAM Jaya to speed up the process. Finally, the conversation ended and the residents left the DKI City Hall.