Sumarti, a mother of five from Muara Baru, North Jakarta, cannot believe how bad she has it.
Unemployed, like her husband, she still manages to sell cosmetics once in a while to ensure that she can buy eight jerry cans of water — costing Rp 12,000 ($1.30) — daily to wash, clean, cook and drink. She has been doing this every day for six years, she told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.
On days she cannot afford the price, she says she collects rainwater for cooking and cleaning.
“It is normal for the children to suffer from diarrhea. I have been a resident of Muara Baru for 40 years but I have never had it so bad. It enrages me how Palyja [water operator PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya] has tricked us with this kind of poor service,” Sumarti said. “Our water stopped flowing six years ago. The company still charges me. We pay. I still have all my water bill receipts to prove it.”
Her family is one of at least 220 households in the neighborhood scheduled to file legal action against Palyja. Muara Baru is home to 800 households.
The suit will be filed via the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, with help from the People’s Coalition for Water Rights (KruHa), a nongovernmental organization conducting the painstaking job of visiting every family in the village to inquire about water services.
Sumarti said her frequent complaints to Palyja were met with numerous excuses.
“One day it’s road repairs. Another day it’s something else,” she said.
Muhammad Reza Sahib from KruHa said the city must investigate the company over its abysmal service.
“Why has Palyja been allowed to operate?” Reza said, adding that KruHa investigations had found that at least “16 hydrants have been illegally installed throughout the village to siphon off and divert water actually meant for residential pipelines.”
“These hydrants are operated by local thugs. They sell the water to residents for Rp 2,000 per jerry can,” Reza said.
“Locals said that after they complained to Palyja, water trucks were sent. But the neighborhood community chief sold the water to residents,” Reza said.
Meyritha Maryanie, a Palyja spokeswoman, said it had held meetings with residents. “Only later I learned those who had complained never attended the meetings. Temporarily we can offer water tanks. Muara Baru is just so complex,” she said.
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