Useful websites on water management:

www.wateraid.org.uk
www.irn.org
www.worldwaterforum.org
www.nilebasin.org

In 1930, the population of Jakarta was 530,000. Today, Indonesia's capital city is home to an estimated 11 million people. Like many urban centres in the developing world, Jakarta acts like a magnet for people seeking work and a better quality of life from other parts of the country. However, Jakarta's rapid urban growth presents an enormous headache for city planners as they struggle to provide the necessary infrastructure and services. As the city continues to swell in size, Jakarta's water company have only managed to provide less than half the population with piped water. Meanwhile, many other people rely on water from wells, and the groundwater supply that lies a few metres below the surface. This water has to be boiled for hours to kill off any harmful germs and bacteria.

In the north of the city, land is actually sinking as Jakarta's groundwater supply is over used by people. Houses on low-lying land have to be re-built every few years to keep them above sea level. Meanwhile, saltwater from the Java Sea is seeping into the land polluting the remaining groundwater.

Problems in Marunda

The problems of water supply are particularly difficult for the people that live in Jakarta's squatter settlements. These poorer neighbourhoods are known as 'kampongs', which means 'communities' in Indonesian. Marunda is a kampong of 20,000 people that was forced to re-locate to a site in north-east Jakarta in 1984. Residents were evicted from their original homes to make way for a new port.

� Chris Stowers/Panos Pictures

Many kampongs in Jakarta are located on waste ground along the city's polluted rivers and canals, where 700,000 m3 of sewage is dumped each day.

Starting the settlement again meant that Marunda lacked even the most basicservices, including a reliable, clean water supply. But the Marunda's residents could not live without clean water. Families need water for laundry, for meals and for washing in the home and for income-generating activities such as their food and soft drinks businesses. In the past, the women living in the kampong had to queue from 3 a.m. to collect water from water tankers, or they had to pay for the delivery from private street vendors. Street vendors gathered water from standpipes and then carried the water in 20 litre containers placed on long handcarts that can navigate the narrow alleyways in the kampong. This service could cost more than 30 times the price of piped water. For the poorest families, these costs could be devastating. Without running water, Marunda residents also faced serious health risks as sewage and other domestic waste was not flushed away. Across Jakarta, diarrhoea caused by drinking polluted water is responsible for 20% of the deaths of children under five.

� Robert Pearce/Thames Water

Marunda residents used to rely on these handcarts to carry water. Collecting water took a lot of valuable time and money.

As part of the 'kampong improvement programme', the Jakarta city authorities have been trying to provide the city's kampongs with the services that local people have found difficult to establish on their own. By 1996, more than 15 million people in the Jakarta region had improved basic services as a result of the programme. The lack of funds available to keep up with the demand for water has meant that the city authorities have had to contract out projects to private companies. In April 1999, Thames Water Pam Jaya owned by Thames Water in the UK, began a �60,000 project to bring piped water to the people of Marunda. From the outset, Thames Water Pam Jaya has understood the need to involve local people in the construction and maintenance of the project. This way, the project could be better suited to the needs of Marunda and could gain the trust and support of its residents. As a result, 2,000 local people have been working on the project alongside 10 staff from Thames Water UK.

Laying the water pipes in Marunda was a joint partnership between Thames Water and local people.

A Pipe Dream Come True?

By July 2000, the project was finished and 1,600 houses in Marunda were connected to Jakarta's main water supply. This enabled 12,000 residents to have water piped directly into their homes. In addition, the cost of the piped water is subsidised[hotlink to glossary]. Residents can now receive water at a third of the price that they used to pay to private street vendors. Savings on water enables families to spend more money on other basic needs such as clothes and food. Improved sanitation through piped water has also brought immediate health benefits to the people of Marunda as it reduces the risk of catching diseases from contaminated water. In view of the extent of Jakarta's lingering problems with water supply, the success of the Marunda project may seem small. Nevertheless, the project shows the positive contribution that private companies like Thames Water, working in partnership with city authorities and local communities, can make in improving the lives of the urban poor.