TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has pointed a finger on the behaviours of his neighbours at the upscale Pantai Mutiara complex in Pluit, North Jakarta - saying that these houses often dump untreated wastewater into nearby canals that feed directly into the sea.

"Whereas its' true that the houses in my area are quite grand, I often see maids come out of these houses to dump wastewater into the sea," said Basuki at a workshop to socialise the merger between PD PAM and PD PAL Jaya in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, October 6, 2015.

According to the Governor, the dumping should be banned altogether as it pollutes the ocean, and Indonesia should strive to have sewerage pipes that are linked to a government-owned wastewater treatment facility. "Developed countries treat their wastewater in facilities that are fed with such pipes," he said.

Basuki explained that many countries treat their wastewater in such a way that it is safe for human consumption - such as Malaysia and Singapore. "Singapore used to rely on Malaysia for freshwater, now it is self-sufficient because it treats its own waste," he said.

Ideally, PD PAL Jaya - as Jakarta's wastewater treatment facility operator - continued Basuki, should be able to help meet the city's demand for fresh water. "Water treated by PAL and state-owned water distributor PAM Jaya is actually already safe for consumption," he said, but the water processed by these companies are distributed through an aging, leaking pipeline.

"Our drinking water network was probably last inspected by the Dutch, so we need to move and install these pipes to connect homes to safe, drinking water," said Basuki, who promises that the installation will be done by PAM or PAL, free of charge. "I won't allow these companies to name a price like PAM - they had asked between Rp1-2 million to install pipes that they should have installed in the first place."

VINDRY FLORENTIN