Poor sanitation conditions throughout Indonesia

Poor sanitation habits have led to the large-scale contamination of Indonesia’s water supplies which, in turn, has led to massive financial losses for the nation, Nugroho Tri Utomo, head of the department overseeing drinking water and waste at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) has disclosed.

About 70 million people out of a population of 230 million defecate in the open, he told The Jakarta Globe, adding that many houses do not have septic tanks, or if they have a tank, it is not cleaned regularly.

This kind of behavior, Utomo said, has played a major role in the contamination of some 75% of the country’s drinking water, which is proving costly. “The worsening contamination means more [chemical] substances are needed to purify the water, which in turn forces water tariffs up,” he said.

The biggest cost is in terms of health; diseases such as diarrhea, dengue fever, typhus and cholera are strongly correlated with low sanitation standards. “Indonesia lost Rp 57 trillion [$6 billion] in 2008 due to health problems brought about by poor sanitation ... Medical costs and losses due to time off work related to poor sanitation are costing our country,” he said.
Utomo said data from Bappenas showed that some 100 cities in the country had urban drainage management problems. However, provincial and municipal governments are now allocating more funds to the issue. “Some regions have increased their budgets for sanitation to 4% [of the total budget],” he said.