“We envision everyone in this village to be healthy,” the Chairperson of KPSPAMS (Kelompok Pengelola Sistem Penyediaan Air Minum dan Sanitasi/Caretaker Group for Water Supply and Sanitation) Tirta Johar Mandiri , Mr. Bambang Suryaatmaja, shared the reason why his group is called to educate community to use piped water and build a toilet with septic tank at home.
Established in 2018, KPSPAMS Tirta Johar Mandiri is originally responsible for managing and maintaining the communal SPAM built by PAMSIMAS in Pematang Johar village in Deli Serdang district. Their task includes promoting the benefits of piped water service to the community. “The training and assistance on the communal SPAM maintenance and management from the district housing and settlement, USAID IUWASH PLUS, and PAMSIMAS help us manage the facility well and motivate the community to switch to piped water service,” said Mr. Bambang Suryaatmaja.
According to Mr. Bambang Suryatmaja, who is also the Head of Pematang Johar village, new house connections to the communal SPAM are built every year. From 2018 to 2020, 375 house connections were built, 15 of which were constructed from October – November 2020. With these number of built house connections, the communal SPAM has nearly reached its maximum capacity of serving 400 households. Currently, the KPSPAMS is still waiting for the construction of a new communal SPAM from the district housing and settlement office. KPSPAMS Tirta Johar Mandiri expects that there will be additional six communal SPAMs built by 2027.
Besides managing the communal SPAM, KPSPAMS Tirta Johar Mandiri also promotes desludging services to the community. In 2019, KPSPAMS Tirta Johar Mandiri with support from the village government and USAID IUWASH PLUS initiated arisan sedot tinja (rotating savings and credit for desludging service), in which 94 households participated by paying Rp10,000 per week. Until December 2020, 74 households have received the desludging service and the remaining 20 are expected to get it in the end of January 2021.
In addition to the arisan sedot tinja, KPSPAMS Tirta Johar Mandiri has also run a septic tank business since August 2020. To support this business, USAID IUWASH PLUS trained master masons, who will help the KPSPAMS build the septic tanks, as well as trained the KPSPAMS to market its sanitation product. Until December 2020, the KPSPAMs has five master masons and sold four septic tanks, two of which were purchased by PT Inti Plastisindo (a plastic bag manufacturer) in the neighboring village to Pematang Johar.
“I enjoy water from the communal SPAM a lot as it is clean and clear. Also, the arisan sedot tinja helps me access desludging service in a more convenient way,” said Sutedi, one of the beneficiaries.
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