Jakarta Expands Drinking Water System to Prevent City from Sinking

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has officially established partnership with two State Ministers to establish the city’s drinking water supply system (SPAM), which is a program closely related to preventing the "Jakarta sinking prophecy" caused by groundwater over extraction.

Governor Anies signed an MoU on Monday with Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian and Public Works and Housing MInister Basuki Hadimuljono. This event was also attended by the Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investments Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

In his written statement, Anies said the main reason city residents choose to extract groundwater is due to the fact that Jakarta’s drinking water pipe system has only covered 64 percent of the city.

"As a result, people who do not have access to piped drinking water tend to use groundwater continuously, which causes rapid land subsidence," he wrote on January 5. 

With the existing pipe facilities, the amount of water that is able to be supplied to the community only reaches 20,725 liters per second for 908,324 customer connections. This is still far below Jakarta's population of more than 10 million.

The Central Government in collaboration with the Provincial Government of Jakarta has prepared a joint plan that synergizes the Drinking Water Supply System (SPAM) initiative project with details of the program, timeframe and appropriate financing scheme in the MoU. 

"By 2030 Jakarta must already achieve 100 percent coverage of piped drinking water services," said Anies Baswedan.

Read: City Official Unveils 3 Threats Lead to Jakarta Sinking

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH