TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The sounds of an aerator machine is thundering throughout Setiabudi reservoir located at Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Wednesday, January 4, 2017. The machine continuously produces bubbles out of the green colored water.
“It’s the aeration process,” said AhdiyatSyafari, Operation and Maintanence Staff at the Jakarta regional-owned wastewater management PD PAL Jaya.
Setiabudi Reservoir has seven aerator machines that are located in east and west Jakarta regions. These machines process liquid wastes before it is safely dumped to the West Flood Canal, which is located beside the reservoir.
Wastes that can be dumped into the river, according to Ahdiyat, must contain a biological oxygen demand under 75. “That’s why we aerate it so the numbers won’t exceed that.” Oxygen demand is the maximum amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic organisms to break organic wastes.
The 4.2 hectares reservoir was originally built by the central government in order to cope with the floods that plagued Jakarta but the reservoir was handed over to Jakarta’s officials in 1990. By then, it was not just tasked to subdue urban flooding but also to act as a place to accommodate and process wastes produced by the housing and office complexes around Sudirman, Kuningan, and Senayan.
There are other places to accommodate and process wastes that are managed by the government, although at a lesser capacity. Setiabudi Reservoir can only manage to process 35,000 cubic meters of waste. Meanwhile, Jakarta produces waste up to 2 million cubic meters each day. “Jakarta’s waste is already chronic,” said the Technical and Business Director at PD PAL Jaya, Juniver Pandjaitan.
Therefore, PAL Jaya plans to build new waste management facilities in a number of places, such as at Muara Angke (zone 2), Srengseng (zone 3), Pulogebang (zone 4 and 10), Pegadungan (zone 7), and at Marunda (zone 8). A Rp20 trillion budget has been prepared to build these future projects. “Construction can start next year,” Juniver said.
As a matter of fact, the central government is in the middle of adding a waste management facility based on a moving bed bio-reactor technology (MBBR) at Setiabudi Reservoir. Wastes from Sudirman, Kuningan, and Senayan (Zone 0) will be processed by the technology to produce clean water. “Aerator doesn’t produce clean water, which is why it’s dumped into the river.”
Juniver said that the clean water produced from waste can be sold to add PAL Jaya’s income. PAL Jaya’s total revenue in 2016 was Rp31 billion, which was obtained from its three business sectors: waste management operator, sludge services, and piping system services. Currently, PAL Jaya has 2,500 customers.
Urban planning expert from Trisakti University, Nirwono Joga, thinks that the government's seriousness in handling wastes is lacking. He is not surprised that Jakarta is considered in a state of waste emergency. He suggests the government come up with a master plan on waste management.
ERWAN HERMAWAN
