Policy Dialog Highlights Water Supply Issues and Solutions in Bali

Biosand Filter Construction in Bali

A policy dialog jointly organized by the Balifokus Foundation and the SEA-UEMA Project revealed that Bali still suffers from contagious diseases related to environmental health. The one day policy dialog held on March 2, 2009, in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia discussed options for household water treatment for urban poor communities in Indonesia. It highlighted good practices for community-based wastewater treatment in urban areas that resulted from two demonstration initiatives in Indonesia supported by the SEA-UEMA Project.

The first project, implemented by Balifokus in Denpasar, used Bio-Sand
filters (BSF) as a household water treatment for urban poor settlers in the
capital. This allows individual households to treat their own water and ensure the safety of their water supply. The second initiative is a community-based water supply system in Bandung, West Java that uses ground water. Lessons learned from these projects can help control and lessen the number of contagious diseases in Bali caused by poor water and sanitation facilities.

Household Biosand Filter

During the policy dialog, Zainal Nampira, Sub-director of the Health Ministry’s environmental health division, indicated that water resources and treatment are important issues in Bali. He also mentioned that the public often use low-quality water, which is the source of diseases.

Health Ministry data shows that in 2007, diarrhea caused 31 percent of deaths among babies aged 2 to 13 months. Another 55 percent of infant and toddler deaths were caused by diseases related to poor sanitation, water and the environment. “Bali still has a high diarrhea prevalence of 13 percent on average, compared to the national average of 9 percent. That’s even higher than in Maluku,” Zainal said.

The policy dialog aimed to assess good practices and experiences gained from the implementation of the household water treatment systems and how existing policies can support further dissemination of the demonstration projects.

SEA-UEMA Supports Jakarta Car-Free Day

Jakarta Residents Enjoy Cycling on CFD

SEA-UEMA Project has supported the Urban Regional Development Institute (URDI) of Jakarta, Indonesia to implement a pilot project to monitor and assess environmental impacts of a Car-Free Day (CFD) on ambient air quality in a particular corridor in Jakarta. CFD was first introduced in the US in the 1970s and has been used to promote and encourage alternative modes of transport on busy roads and streets limited to vehicle use. A car free day would help measure the reduction in air pollutants and noise reduction and help promote alternative non-motorized transport systems.

Three air quality parameters (particulates, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide) from three ambient air monitoring stations on the Sudhirman-Thamrin Corridor in Jakarta’s central business district were measured. One of the CFDs implemented on August 31, 2008 from 6:00 to 14:00hrs indicated a substantial reduction in air emissions by comparing parameters measured on weekdays and holidays. The reductions of air emissions for the above three parameters have been observed to be more than 60% in most cases, without considering the change in meteorological pattern. Data from 10 CFDs have been used to study the effectiveness of each event.

Car Free Day in Jakarta's Sudhirman-Thamrin Corridor

It has been observed that during the CFD implemented by URDI, car free roads were well utilized by the public for nonmotorized transport such as bicycles while some people used the roads for leisure, social and sports activities. Thus the event not only promoted activities for the community in and around the corridor but also helped in socialization for those who live in high-rises and compact settlements.

The air quality measurements also indicated that more frequent CFDs would pave way towards improving air quality in the city while creating awareness among the people about the need for improving ambient air quality for better environmental health. Though conclusive results have yet to be derived through modeling, the initial inferences indicated improved ambient air quality. These positive results are expected to pave the formulation of effective policies promoting alternative means of transport to improve the air quality standards in Jakarta.

Joint Action Research cum Pilot Project Promotes Environmental Awareness in the Community

A solid waste management (SWM) initiative in Jakarta involving the informal sector has gained headways in improving the lives of the community and the waste pickers who have become part of its implementation. The project is entitled Building community, scavengers, local government and private sector partnership for SWM in Jakarta and is being implemented by the SEA-UEMA Project in collaboration with the Urban Regional Development Institute (URDI).

Scavengers Help Keep the Community Clean

Mrs. Alfin is one of the key persons in this project and is active in promoting the initiative to other households in her community. She and other community members in RW 08 in southern Jakarta decided to join the project when representatives from URDI visited her community in February 2008. Mrs. Alfin immediately decided to join the project since her passion is to live in a good and clean environment.

According to Mrs. Alfin, the project helped community members to maintain cleanliness in their environment. In the past, households would just dump their wastes anywhere. When she asked others to separate wastes, they would refuse but after they realized the benefits of waste segregation and composting, they wanted to join as well.

In order to motivate more households to participate, Mrs. Alfin points out that having cleaner surroundings and managing their environment better will be beneficial to the community in ensuring they will not be evicted, considering the tenure security issues that exist. By keeping the environment clean and well managed, they hope that government agencies will notice this and see that they can take care of the land. Mrs. Alfin said that they can have a better bargaining position with the Industrial Agency with their good reputation in maintaining a clean environment.

Conference

No.	Conference/Location		Date
1	Sharing of Experiences on Air Pollution Abatement in Southeast Asia, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Published: Conference Proceedings		12 Dec. 2006

Policy Dialog

No.	Policy dialog/Location		Date
1	Policy Dialog on Planning and Management of Small Community Water Supply of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Co-organizer: Graduate School in Urban and Regional Planning University of Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. Published: Policy Dialog Proceedings		20 May 2006