Wastewater Management Systems in Indonesia

Kitakyushu Initiative Research
March 2009
Policy Report

Population of community in Indonesia grows significantly slight especially in urban area. This condition may impact to environmental support capacity deterioration. That impact must be treated definitely, particularly for the use of waste water treatment. The increasing number of community will increase consumption of drinking water and directly impacted to increase waste water production. As we knew that around 80% water consumption becomes waste water. Waste water disposal without treatment process will cause environmental contamination, especially contamination water sources for drinking water, water surface or ground water.
Waste water treatment (WWT) needs infrastructure and distribution facility and treatment. The sewerage system service in Indonesia just cover eleven big cities are Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Bandung, Cirebon, Jakarta, Medan, Prapat, Surakarta, Tangerang, Yogyakarta and Denpasar. Service coverage is typically less than 10% of the city population. Their management is inefficient. And their operating costs are heavily subsidized. Mostly municipal WWT can be handling through on‐site system with septic tank. An estimated 70 million people in Indonesia are inadequate of sanitation facilities. From the amount of it, 40 million people lack of basic sanitation facilities at all. While, 30 million people only have low sanitation facility standard as ‘cubluk’ (digging land for defecate) or ‘helicopter’ toilet (defecate above river or surface water) that is not meet the health and the environment standard.
Indonesia legalize MDGs target to “Reducing by 50% proportion of the population having no access basic sanitation facilities” in 2015. The target of basic sanitation access in MDGs is 65% and already achieved by year 2006. But this accomplished target is not considering to quality of sanitation.
People’s access particularly urban-poor to waste water (sanitation) infrastructure and facility is still low. Up to present, urban-poor generally do not think about sanitation as basic need. They are more concerned about what to eat today. They do not realize that sanitation can prevent them always healthy, so they do not need to spend money to maintain health and work productivity remains high and therefore they will improve their income and prosperity.
The urban-poor generally live in dense area. They live with limitation of environment quality, access to water, and sanitation facility. If they have basic sanitation, they did not consider about technical requirement. Finally this condition still worsen the quality of environment.
To reduce quantities of worse sanitation in urban area, Indonesia government introduce SANIMAS program to improve urban-poor sanitation since 2001. The pilot project of SANIMAS (community-based sanitation) program was initiated by AusAID through WSP-EAP World Bank (Water and Sanitation Program – East Asia Pacific) and was supported by the government of Indonesia. Until 2008, SANIMAS has been implemented in 27 provinces, and more than 300 locations. While 2009 SANIMAS project have been planned in 82 locations and still in procurement process.
Through SANIMAS program, urban-poor necessity to basic sanitation may carried out. As we knew that SANIMAS have used DEWATS technology by BORDA on specific location, while the rest location used modification of DEWATS technology. The impressive of replicate of this SANIMAS is interesting to review and evaluate what the successful factors are, obstacle in location, environment and social improvement through implementation of SANIMAS.

Author:
Dewi
Dwirianti
Date: