Indonesia falling behind on MDG clean water target

Indonesia is unlikely to meet its target for access to drinking water set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) because of contaminated groundwater in cities and lack of funding to expand piped water coverage, a group has warned.

The MDG target is to halve by 2015 the number of people without access to safe drinking water.

Only 58 percent of Indonesians currently have access to safe drinking water, with those in urban areas more vulnerable to drinking "unsafe water" because of E. coli contamination in the groundwater, Drinking Water and Environment Restoration (AMPL) Network coordinator, Oswar Mungkasa, said Friday.

Access to safe drinking water is increasing at a rate of less than 1 percent per year, meaning Indonesia is off track on its MDG target of bringing the proportion to 67 percent by 2015, Oswar, a senior official at the National Development Planning Agency, told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of an AMPL Network meeting on Friday.

"We have only seven years left. If we want to achieve the target, we need about 2 percent growth per year," Oswar said.

The report comes a week before world leaders meet in New York on Sept. 25 to renew their commitment to achieving the MDGs by 2015 and to set out concrete plans and practical steps for action.

The AMPL Network, established in late 2007, brings together stakeholders in water and sanitation matters, including representatives from the government, tap water operators and some NGOs.

Oswar said efforts to improve access to safe drinking water in urban areas tended to focus on expanding piped water networks, whereas those in rural areas generally relied on the excavation of wells for groundwater because of geographical and infrastructure issues.

Efforts are being hampered by funding shortages, with less than Rp 3 trillion (US$318.7 million) available per year, half the necessary amount of between Rp 5 trillion and Rp 6 trillion per year, he said.

Despite the gloomy outlook in the drinking water target, the AMPL Network reported Indonesia could reach the sanitation target in the MDGs.

The MDGs require that 65.5 percent of Indonesians have access to good sanitation, or access to toilets, by 2015.

In 2006, the proportion was 69.3 percent, but not all the toilets were connected to septic tanks, Oswar said.

Only about 45 percent of toilets in Indonesia lead to septic tanks, with the rest going into a waterway or nowhere.

Oswar added that the number of Indonesians with access to toilets channeled to septic tanks would equal the MDG target, as demonstrated by a number of ongoing programs.

The programs include the construction of communal septic tanks in 80 cities and municipalities, and the toilet use campaign in rural areas covering 500 villages.

"The problem in big cities is that there is not enough land for septic tanks. That's why we're building the communal septic tanks. In rural areas, meanwhile, we've learned that changing attitudes is the key," Oswar said.

"The villagers hardly used the toilets we built for them, but after we showed them how they contaminate the water they drink with their own waste, they started building their own toilets." Erwida Maulia

Post Date : 20 September 2008