Press Release

USAID Launches Innovative “Water for the Poor” Toolkit

Jakarta | Monday, December 15, 2008

On Monday, 15 December 2008, USAID’s Environment Services Program (ESP) hosted a seminar to launch the innovative toolkit “Water for the Poor” at Le Meridien Hotel, Jakarta. The toolkit aims to provide guidance for related parties in the provision of affordable clean water connections for poor communities.

During the event, awards were also given to several Municipal Water Company (PDAM) including the PDAM of Sidoarjo Regency for its successful micro credit program and Medan’s PDAM Tirtanadi Medan for outstanding “communal meter” program. The awards were presented by USAID Director Walter North. “One of the major objectives of USAID’s work in Indonesia is to improve basic human services, including access to clean water. USAID hopes that the toolkit will improve access to clean water for low-income communities,” said Walter North in his speech.

The seminar featured keynote speeches by Director General of Cipta Karya, Ministry of Public Works, Budi Yuwono, who presented statistics on current piped water coverage in Indonesia. The office revealed that the coverage reaches 45 percent in urban areas and only 10 percent in rural areas. Meanwhile the average percentage of piped water service in Indonesia is 24 percent. “According to surveys, low-income communities pay water bills ten times higher than the average,” he said. At the same time, Director of Housing and Settlement of Bappenas Budi Hidayat said that one of the issues preventing poor communities from getting access to piped water is their unclear land status.

A major theme that emerged from the panel discussion was that clean water is an absolute need for human beings. When a community is unable to access piped water service, the people usually either get water from contaminated wells or purchase it from vendors at higher prices. The innovative solutions presented at the seminar not only will benefit the communities given the cheaper price and improved quality of the water, but will also benefit the PDAM by reducing water losses and introducing a simplified billing system. The micro credit program will also increase the customer base of the participating banks.

Since its first inception in 2007, ESP’s communal meter program has provided piped water connections to 3,500 households in Medan, Sidoarjo and Surakarta. Meanwhile, the micro credit program—which kicked off in 2006—has helped achieve 5,000 new household connections in 11 areas including Surabaya, Medan, Malang, Solo, Bogor and Sidoarjo, Sukabumi, Subang and Bandung in collaboration with PDAMs, banks and local communities. During the event, the toolkit was also distributed to seminar participants with the hope that this innovation can be implemented in other regions in Indonesia.