Indonesia’s achievement in open defecation practice reduction is lagging behind other Asian countries, such as India, Malaysia, and Vietnam. About 10-11% of the total population or equal with 29 million people in the country still practice open defecation.
Tri Dewi Virgiyanti, the Director of Urban, Housing, and Settlements of Bappenas, made this statement when opening the National Workshop on the Regulations for Domestic Wastewater Management Institutions and Tariff held in Jakarta on December 4, 2018. This workshop was held by Bappenas and USAID IUWASH PLUS.
“Government is obliged to deliver excellent and affordable domestic wastewater, and citizens have rights to receive WASH services to create productive and healthy community. Robust institution, regulation, and funding are required in WASH development [including domestic wastewater management]. However, currently there are only 13% of the total districts/cities having a specific institution managing the domestic wastewater,” said Tri Dewi Virgiyanti.
During the national workshop, 45 participants discussed about national and regulations that local governments could refer to when determining the domestic wastewater management institutions and tariff. All those participants represented Bappenas, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Public Works and Housing, and USAID IUWASH PLUS supported local governments.
One of the highlighted issues is the varying local government organizations that manage domestic wastewater. For instance, the domestic wastewater management in Barru districts is managed by the Housing and Settlements office, while in Salatiga city, the public works office manages the domestic wastewater management.
Responding to this issue, the MOHA suggested the local governments to refer to the Article 11 of Law No23/2014 when determining the domestic wastewater management regulation. Referring to this regulation, the domestic wastewater management is under public works and spatial planning. However, the housing and settlements office can manage the domestic wastewater management as long as it is mentioned in the relevant local government regulation.
In terms of the domestic wastewater management tariff, some local governments are planning to either revise or develop the tariff regulation. For instance, Tangerang district is eager to develop a regulation on the emptying septage trucks tariff for private desludging operators in the septage treatment plant (IPLT).
The participants also agreed that governments are obliged to deliver quality domestic wastewater management services because it is part of the minimum service standard. As the consequence, the community members need to pay for the services.
Laisa Wahanudin, the Head of Sanitation Sub-Directorate of Bappenas, said that good institution, regulation, and funding are the key factors in the domestic wastewater management program. Therefore, the national, province, and district governments should have the same level of commitment.
