At the present time, only 50% of people in Jakarta have access to piped water, and the figure is even lower in other cities around the country. As things stand, the country’s municipal water utilities are unable to supply piped water to most of the people who want it. This is primarily the result of a vicious circle involving inefficiency, bureaucratic inertia, and lack of investment. As a result of this inefficiency, many water utilities are loss-making. This in turn means that they are unable to fund investment to improve and expand access to services. Meanwhile, water consumers are unwilling to pay more for water until such time as services have been improved. Thus, improved services are impossible without more money, while more money is impossible without improved services.

As a consequence, most of the country’s urban poor are denied access to piped water, with the water utilities having little or no incentive to provide connections given the current tariff structure, which sets unreasonably low tariffs for poor households. In addition, land tenure problems among the marginalized make it difficult to arrange conventional connections. This lack of access to clean water has profound health implications for Indonesia’s people.

Our priority at ESP is to convert the water utilities into creditworthy companies that provide excellent services to the community, including the urban poor. In order to bring this about, the Environmental Services Delivery team will intervene in the following ways:

Public Relations
Opinion-framers such as politicians, community leaders, and academics need to be informed of the need to see water as a commodity that has to be paid for if investment by the water utilities is to be increased and access to piped water expanded.

Efficiency
ESP wants to help improve efficiency in the operation and management of municipal water utilities. Unless all of these aspects are improved, it will be impossible to expend access to piped water.

Financial Issues
ESP is actively involved in investigating improved and alternative financing mechanisms for municipal water utilities, including promoting full-cost recovery so as to allow the utilities to increase investment and thereby expand access to piped water.

Capacity-building and Human Resources Development
The goal here is to improve the capacity of all involved in the provision of water, sanitation and solid waste services, particularly in the water utilities, and local legislatures and executives, including technical and financial, leadership, public relations, and behavioral change training.

Increasing Access
Municipal water utilities have traditionally neglected the urban poor for various reasons, including low tariffs, recovery difficulties, political reasons, and lack of incentives and pro-poor policies. ESP aims to change this by encouraging local governments to adopt policies ensuring access to piped water for the urban poor.

Improving Water Source Quality and Quality
In close collaboration with ESP’s Watershed Management Team, Services Delivery is working to improve the quality of water sources. The Services Delivery Team is working closely with Corporate Planning to bring about professional management in municipal water utilities. Without professional management, it will be impossible to improve water supplies and provide access to clean water to those who currently lack it.