Exposure to Bedog Water Treatment Plant (IPA) of Drinking Water Company in Yogyakarta Municipality

By: Kresensia Risna Efrieno.          

Water is a basic human need, but the water availability does not meet the people’s needs because of some reasons, such as, the quality and far location of water sources from the settlements. Thus, water treatment and distribution systems are needed to provide and distribute decent water to every house in need. These activities are related to process and distribution managed by the Regional Drinking Water Company (PDAM) called  PDAM Tirtamarta in Yogyakarta. How does PDAM Yogyakarta manage this drinking water? Where does it come from and what are the challenges it faces? These questions made the students of Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta curious to take a closer look at how water treatment is like and where the water source used by PDAM Tirtamarta Yogyakarta comes from. The exposure to PDAM Tirtamarta Yogyakarta is part of the Water Security training done by Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta followed by dozens of students from various regions in Indonesia who are currently studying in Yogyakarta (Thursday, 18/11/2021).

The participants visited the Bedog Drinking Water Treatment Plant (IPA) located in Trihanggo, Gamping district. Here, Robid Lokananta, the head of the Bedog IPA Production Office, explained the history of PDAM Yogyakarta, which had been established in 1918, which formerly was managed by the Dutch government. Until now PDAM Tirtamarta Yogyakarta has 6 (six) Water Treatment Plants (IPA): Padasan, Gemawang, Karanggayam, Bedog, Pengok and Kotagede. He further explained, the customers reach thirty thousand connections, consisting of households, offices, and hotels. “Our customers are not only the residents in Yogyakarta but also customers in Sleman and Bantul regency because at that time there was no drinking water company in each regency. Now, we no longer open customers’ registration outside of Yogyakarta municipality because PDAMs are available in every regency,” he said.

In the water treatment process, raw water sources obtained from groundwater include springs, shallow wells, and deep wells as many as 58 units. The processing begins with a sedimentation process to settle sand and mud, aeration to increase oxygen in the water, filtration using activated lime, quartz sand, and gravel, then enters the reservoir. Before the water is distributed to customers, there is a dosing process or the chemical process to purify the water and kill bacteria in the water. The participants observed the water treatment plant directly from the well that flows into the sedimentation tank, through the aeration tank, to the water filtration installation, and enters the reservoir before being sent to the customer.

This exposure revealed the challenges faced by PDAM Tirtamarta, Yogyakarta. It is acknowledged that PDAM services are still far from ideal for making ready-to-drink drinking water due to various obstacles, including the age of old and new pipes, various pipe materials such as iron, concrete, fiber, and plastic which affect the water quality. Even  It is revealed that there are some leaks in the distribution pipe reaching 50%. It does not mean that there are no efforts to solve the problems, but it is not easy, because of difficulties in detecting leaks of old pipes at the depth of more than 2 meters. In the future, the distribution pipes will gradually be replaced with HDPE plastic pipes to make them more elastic, rusty proof, less leakage and less metal elements. Another challenge faced is the decrease of water discharge in the wells due to the direct impact of massive residential, office, and hotel development without considering the water ecology in the catchment area. During the pandemic, there was also a decrease in income due to the decreasing water consumption by hotel customers.

During the exposure, students seemed enthusiastic to express their opinion that water treatment in PDAM is not as easy as it seems to be as written above. Some participants also admitted that they had learned something new because they had only heard explanations and read about water treatment so far. Now, the experiences equipped them as a provision to understand the water security problem. Students should take part to think and to act for water conservation, maintain its quality and distribution to the community fairly.