Against a backdrop of woefully deficient piped water, sanitation and waste disposal services in Indonesia’s urban and peri-urban areas, and with 100,000 children dying of diarrhea-related causes every year, the Environmental Services Delivery team is determined to make timely and appropriate interventions to better the lives of Indonesia’s people by helping improve the efficiency and coverage of water utilities, increase access to improved sanitation systems, encourage the development of community-based sanitation systems, and promote behavioral change in relation to health and sanitation.

Indonesia’s efforts to supply its people with satisfactory water services are currently mired in a vicious circle, with most local government water utilities unable to improve services due to a lack of investment and continuing financial losses, and most consumers unwilling to pay more for water until such time as the services they receive have improved.

At the same time, an estimated 50 million urban poor in Indonesia are unconnected to piped water. These people continue to be denied access to affordable water as very often they do not own the land they live on or are refused service by the utilities on account of perceived inability to pay, despite the fact that they actually end up paying much more for their water to sidewalk vendors – sometimes in excess of 20% of their income.

Meanwhile, the sanitation sector in Indonesia is one of the biggest challenges associated with poverty reduction, with the lack of adequate sanitation in urban areas leading to severe and continuing health and environmental consequences.

The disposal of solid waste also presents major problems, with many urban centers blighted by piles of uncollected garbage and the health consequences resulting from these.

It is these problems that ESP is determined to help overcome by providing a series of comprehensive and integrated solutions that will benefit the health and well-being of the Indonesian people.