Jakarta (ANTARA) - Effective and efficient water management is necessary to enhance Indonesia’s economy and human resources, especially to achieve the grand vision of “Indonesia Emas 2045” (2045 Golden Indonesia).

Three of the four grand visions are human development, sustainable economic development, and equitable development, which underlie the importance of effective and efficient water management in Indonesia.

Water management is crucial in the 2045 Golden Indonesia because it is underpinned by the limitations of household drinking water. Access to proper drinking water only reaches 91.08 percent, while access to safe drinking water currently stands at 11.8 percent.

One of the causes of this limited access to drinking water is the ineffective and inefficient management of regional water utility companies (PDAM) by local governments. This ranges from PDAMs continuously operating at a loss to water leaks, resulting in minimal development or expansion of piping networks by PDAMs to distribute clean water to households.

The limited and unequal distribution of drinking water piping networks ultimately forces communities to rely on groundwater usage. Although groundwater can serve as an alternative source of clean water for communities, this poses latent dangers that threaten the sustainability of the community's environment and important assets for the country's economy.

Excessive groundwater usage leads to land subsidence, ultimately causing floods. Flood disasters, which frequently hit Jakarta and Semarang, and the recent flooding in Demak disrupt economic activities such as submerging railway stations.

Another serious consequence of inadequate access to drinking water due to poor water management is stunting, which affects human resources. Water is a crucial element in maintaining the health and growth of Indonesia's younger generation, especially children.

The limited access to safe and clean water can hinder children's growth and threaten their health, thereby impacting the possibility of achieving human resource development for the Golden Generation 2045.

Considering the serious impacts of ineffective and inefficient water management, the government issued Presidential Instruction (Inpres) Number 1 of 2024 concerning the Acceleration of Drinking Water Provision.

This presidential instruction aims to fulfill the community's fundamental rights to improve societal welfare, enhance the quality of public health related to waterborne diseases, reduce the prevalence and prevent stunting, and decrease the rate of groundwater extraction by the community.

Water Infrastructure Optimization

The government’s first strategic step through this Presidential Instruction on Drinking Water is to optimize the existing water resources infrastructure.

Geographically, Indonesia is not a water-deficient country. It has a large water surplus. However, the distribution of this surplus water, whether from natural sources like rivers or reservoirs such as dams in upstream areas, is challenging to channel downstream or to communities due to the lack of piping network access. The Presidential Instruction on Drinking Water aims to address this idle capacity condition.

These efforts need to be accelerated by expanding, adding, and even constructing piping networks through the construction of household connections) to communities so that water stored upstream can be quickly distributed and enjoyed by the community.

The efforts to accelerate the expansion and construction of household connections also need to be balanced by periodic maintenance and rehabilitation of dams, reservoirs, drinking water supply systems (SPAM), and other water storage infrastructure to ensure the quality of water services to the community is maintained and sustainable.

Thus far, the government has completed and operated 42 dams throughout Indonesia. Some of these reservoirs, such as the Cipanas Dam, Karian Dam, and Jatigede Dam on Java Island, provide water supply to urban communities living in cities such as Semarang and Jakarta.

Efforts to accelerate household connections and maintain water resources infrastructure enable communities to rely on piped water networks for clean water.

This will gradually reduce their dependence on groundwater usage, ultimately preventing groundwater depletion, which can lead to flooding.

Socio-economic transformation

The Presidential Instruction on Drinking Water also plays another strategic role: to create social transformation by aiding in the prevention of stunting at the community level.

In addition to providing adequate nutrition for pregnant women and newborn babies, drinking water availability is a crucial factor in preventing stunting, where the provision of sustainable access to safe drinking water for communities is vital.

Providing water through piped networks to households and public facilities can improve the quality of clean water consumed by the community.

Piped water distribution allows for quality control of water by the central government, local governments, and water utility companies. This is different from when communities rely on groundwater, as the quality of this type of water cannot be monitored and is susceptible to contamination from bacteria and other elements that can pose health risks to the community.

The role of government and water utility companies as operators of the resource infrastructure and distributors is crucial to maintaining sustainable piped water quality.

Therefore, the Presidential Instruction on Drinking Water can also drive economic transformation by providing local governments with training on the operationalization, maintenance, optimization, and rehabilitation (OPOR) of water infrastructure.

Local governments are responsible for efficiently and effectively managing and regulating water at the grassroots level. Per the Presidential Instruction on Drinking Water, they must also provide training, mentoring, and management to PDAM, which distributes piped water to the community.

This step is expected to prevent water leakage and losses experienced by PDAM, ensuring that the quality and quantity of piped water can continue to be maintained and distributed to the community.

Through efficient management and optimal service provision, local governments and PDAM can make water supply a source of sustainable economic development for the region, mainly to ensure that the quality and quantity of safe and adequate water services continue to flow to households.

Another aspect of the Presidential Instruction's strategic importance is the opportunity it provides for the central government to integrate all piped water service tariffs into a single national tariff. This opportunity arises because water is a crucial element for both society and the national economy, necessitating effective and efficient water management.

Effective and efficient water management, as outlined in the Presidential Instruction on Drinking Water, ultimately contributes to achieving the 2045 Golden Indonesia vision.

This achievement includes human development through stunting prevention, sustainable economic growth by local governments and PDAMs, and the equitable development of piped water networks in all households across Indonesia.

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