The Story Of Muara Angke Residents Lacking Clean Water, It's Been Running For A Year

Residents' queues get clean water/ Photos; Antara

JAKARTA - The condition of residents in RW 22 Blok Empang, Muara Angke, North Jakarta is experiencing a clean water crisis to date. Along the coast of North Jakarta, not only witnessed the tidal abundance of sea water that has come just as a result of climate change, but also suffered from the clean water crisis that has plagued it for years without end.

For daily needs, residents in the area only rely on supplies from cart water jerry cans that are sold around and water from wells with unclear water conditions and sometimes salty because they are close to the coast of Jakarta.

The problem of accessing clean water here has been going on for years, said Oni, a middle-aged woman who works as a green shell peeler.

Dozens of jerry cans of water arranged outside the homes of residents of Block Empang RW 022, Muara Angke, North Jakarta. Some of the old, dark blue jerry cans had just been unloaded by cart water sellers passing through residents' houses.

A fisherman in Udin's green shell, revealed that he always buys clean water from mobile traders to meet his daily needs.

"On a day, five gallons of clean water can be used up, for cooking and drinking, if I take a shower and clean it, I usually use well water", said Udin.

Both Oni and Udin and residents in the area must buy clean water because infiltration wells in their area have poor water quality and are not suitable for consumption because they mix with excavated soil and there are many waterbugs. This makes residents forced to use well water to take a bath even though they always feel an itching sensation every time they finish bathing.

"Water from infiltration wells smells pungent, oily, salty. Many residents are affected by itching skin disease," said Udin.

The Geological Agency, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources stated that 80 percent of groundwater in the Jakarta Soil Basin (CAT) area did not meet the standards of the Minister of Health No. 492 of 2010 concerning the Quality of Drinking Water.

Where northern Jakarta is the worst area where in general the groundwater CAT contains high levels of Fe (iron) and Na (Natrium), Cl (Cloride), TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) and DHL (Hantar Electricity Day) which is high due to the influence of salt water intrusion.

Apart from the problem of clean water, there are other problems that follow the residents of Muara Angke. Residents feel the waste of money just to get clean water, while their work is generally only fishermen, shell peelers, hawkers or daily coolies.

In one month, residents of Muara Angke have to spend around Rp. 300 thousand-Rp. 400 thousand just to use jerry can water for Rp. 5,000 per jerry can.

One of the mobile clean water sellers, Rizal said that in a day he was able to transport 40 jerry cans of water to be sold to residents of Muara Angke.

"Usually, if it's crowded, it can get Rp. 200 thousand, but if it's quiet, it's at least Rp. 150 thousand," said Rizal, who trades clean water from 04.00 WIB to 17.00 WIB.