Water Supply

Only a fifth of Indonesians have water piped to their homes,and the overwhelming majority relies on self-provisioning (household wells), public facilities and unsafe sources. This situation has changed little in recent years despite rapid urbanization. The poor, who have least access to piped water, spend 20 times more for non-piped water through vendors. Many spend between 10-20% of their monthly income on water, which is often of poor quality. Customer preference is overwhelmingly in favor of water piped to their homes. Conversion of public taps to house connections through hoses is commonplace.

WASAP subprograms dedicated to water sector reform:

Sub-Program B: Water Sector Capacity Building

• All municipal water utilities in Indonesia suffer from unacceptably high non-revenue water (NRW) rates; WASAP has sensitized many in the Indonesian water community to the problem and has facilitated very successful pilot projects that can be emulated by others.
• Improving Asset Management is another weakness contributing to the inefficiency of utilities. This initiative, just started, promises to create increased awareness of this critical constraint and replicable pilot projects.
• PDAM “corporate management” projects deal with key issues related to the institutional structures and responsibilities for service providers and the government in a decentralized setting. It tackles issues related to: (i) decentralized WSS management; (ii) corporate utility management; (iii) local government support to the sector; (iv) aggregation of small PDAMs; and (v) management of small town systems (IKKs). Policy analysis and pilot projects in these areas are expected to increase awareness and produce replicable case studies.

Sub–Program H: Aceh-Nias Water and Sanitation Facility

• Merger of the Aceh water utilities would be a first such merger in Indonesia and may present a case study that could entice other PDAMs/local governments to do the same.

Sub-Program E: Sector Monitoring

• Yet to be initiated, this sub-program would make an important contribution to better planning and resource allocation by government.

Sub-Program I: Facilitating Investment Finance for the Sector

• Work on local government reluctance to invest in WSS and assistance to help the government improve medium term expenditure planning addresses a significant constraint to the flow of investments to the sector. WASAP could provide an opportunity to enhance understanding of the issues and facilitate additional investments in the sector.