Water quality sampling in Yogyakarta © UNICEF Indonesia / 2016/ Aidan Cronin
The Government
of Indonesia has taken on a leading role in the South-East Asia region and
globally in implementing the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). One example of this commitment are the Government’s efforts to
harmonize its own Five Year Development Plan (RPJMN) agenda with SDG 6 on the
universal availability of clean water and
sanitation by 2030. The RPJMN 2015-2019 is even more
ambitious and seeks to ensure that 100 per cent of Indonesia’s population has access to safe drinking water by the end of 2019.
There is a
clear commitment to progress. But a lack of evidence is blocking the way.
To address the problem, the Central
Statistics Agency (BPS), in collaboration
with the Ministry of Health and the
Planning Ministry BAPPENAS, carried out a Water Quality Survey in the province of
Yogyakarta in September
last year as part of the National Socio-Economic Survey
(Susenas). It was the first time such surveys
were combined.
The Water
Quality Survey carried out in Yogyakarta aimed to create a detailed overview of water quality, sanitation and hygiene at the household level, and to provide a baseline
estimate of Indonesia’s progress on SDG water and sanitation development targets.
It also aimed to provide data
on the quality of drinking water for the Government of Yogyakarta and relevant stakeholders.
Nearly 1,000 households were surveyed for
the study by a BPS Yogyakarta team. Detailed water analysis, meanwhile, was conducted by the Ministry of
Health’s Centre for Environmental Health Engineering and Control of Diseases
(BBTKLPP), with the main focus on the detection of E.coli faecal contamination.
The analysis concluded that 89 per cent of source water
samples were contaminated with E.coli; this despite high levels of access to an “protected water source”. The
finding suggests that even protected drinking water sources remain at high
risk of faecal contamination.
Around 67.1 per cent of samples of household drinking
water, measured at the point of consumption, were found to
be contaminated with E. coli. While boiling water was able to reduce the level of contamination,
it was not found to eliminate traces of the bacteria altogether.
These two
figures are of course very worrying. High levels of faecal contamination in source and household drinking water were found to
correlate with poverty, rurality and low education levels, highlighting an urgent
need for targeted interventions for the most vulnerable. The proportion of households with access to safely managed drinking water
and sanitation facilities, as per the
definition of the SDGs, were estimated at 8.5 per cent and 45.5 per cent,
respectively.
The survey team
had to master additional tasks including delivering an additional dedicated water
quality questionnaire along with taking water samples from the source and at
the point of consumption in the house and then delivering the samples to the
laboratory within 4 to 6 hours. All
these efforts have contributed to making Indonesia one of the few countries committed to
establishing a baseline understanding of water safety in the country. For this the
Government deserves to be further commended.
The report, launched by the Minister of BAPPENAS, Bambang
Brodjonegoro, the Head of BPS, Kecuk Suhariyanto and UNICEF Representative Gunilla
Olsson, recommends that the study be replicated in other provinces, and advises
local governments to implement routine water-quality testing. It also urges improved coordination between central and local levels of government to seize on the new opportunities for progress that have
been identified.
UNICEF is proud to
have been able to provide technical support for such an important endeavour, as
safe water is a key contributor to public health, and particularly to children’s
health.
We know that over 40 per cent of infant deaths, for example, are caused by two killers: diarrhoea and pneumonia. We also know
that water, sanitation and hygiene -- especially handwashing with soap before
eating and after using the toilet -- can drastically cut these numbers. Studies have shown that the improvement
of the water quality can reduce diarrhoea incidence by up to 30 per
cent.
It
has also become clear that water, sanitation and hygiene plays a crucial role in
reducing malnutrition. Indonesia has a severe stunting problem, with 37 per
cent of all children under five being stunted or too short for their age,
constraining cognitive development and productivity later in life. A recent
UNICEF study showed that children whose families lacked safe drinking water and
proper sanitation were at a heightened risk of stunting.
“During the MDG
period (2000-2015), Indonesia successfully reduced the proportion of people lacking
access to a safe water sources by more than half. That is an incredible
accomplishment. Today, the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) have shifted
the emphasis from the source to the safety of the water. Doing so offers a
unique opportunity to move ahead, as no SDG will be considered met if it is not
met for all, everywhere.
The water quality
survey proves we know how to chart a way forward, even if the road ahead is
long.
To see a short
Youtube clip on the this work please go to
Bahasa Indonesia: https://youtu.be/eBGd6fjHg4I
English
https://youtu.be/DNWpKRc-uiI
