Widarningsih, has been working as a community sanitation worker at the Sungai Raya Dalam Community Health Center in Sungai Raya sub-district, Kubu Raya district, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, for almost thirty years. Known locally as Widar, she actively promotes Community-Based Total Sanitation (Sanitasi Total Berbasis Masyarakat/STBM) and safely managed drinking water and sanitation to five communities along the Kapuas River, including Kapur village, one of the working areas of USAID IUWASH Tangguh.
As a sanitation worker, Widar works closely with the community and observes their heavy reliance on the Kapuas River and rainwater to fulfill their daily needs. She revealed that most people living in the Kapuas River delta commonly use the river to bathe and wash, and open defecation practices are still found on the riverbank, with some residents building latrines there.
“Many people still think that the feces will be washed away by the current, so it will not pollute the water. In fact, the bacteria and substances within the feces pollute the water as soon as it encounters the Kapuas River,” Widar explained.
Residents still collect rainwater for drinking using crocks, plastic drums, cement water tanks, and buckets. Widar believes that the low interest of Kapur village residents in connecting to the piped water network is due to the assumption that nature, through the Kapuas River and rainwater, will always provide for their daily water needs.
But climate change threatens to interrupt the regular variations in quantity and quality of the Kapuas. These beliefs are compounded by economic limitations and the fact that the piped water network has not yet reached the community in Kapur village.
“It takes years and intensive assistance to establish behavior change,” said Widar. Therefore, she actively seeks support from community leaders to educate people on the importance of STBM, and safe management of drinking water and sanitation.
Thanks to Wi
dar’s efforts, several villages are now enjoying the benefits of improved sanitation. For instance, 10 families in Sungai Raya village now use individual septic tanks built by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MPWH) in 2022. Additionally, 15 families in Parit Baru village use toilets with septic tanks constructed by the Ministry of Health and MWPWH through the 2021 STBM Plus program.
Widar has high hopes for the USAID IUWASH Tangguh program in Kubu Raya. “I hope that the assistance from USAID IUWASH Tangguh will not only strengthen the capacity of sanitation workers in educating the community on the importance of STBM, and safely managed drinking water and sanitation, but also support service providers such as PDAM and other stakeholders to expand their pipeline network to rural settlements around the Kapuas River delta,” concluded Widar.
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