Australia and United States Partner To Help Provide Clean Water To Over 1.4 Million Indonesians

Communities across Indonesia will be able to simply turn on a tap to access clean water under an expanded partnership between the Indonesian government, local governments and Australia and the United States.

Water Cooperation is the theme of World Water Day tomorrow, and the basis of the Indonesian Government’s Water and Sanitation Hibah program, which will extend piped water to more than 285,000 low-income Indonesian households and piped sewers to 9000 households over the next two years.

Partners in the Water and Sanitation Hibah met in Jakarta today to discuss the household connections program, which will involve 120 local governments and their water companies.

The first phase of the program in 2011 was a resounding success. More than 77,000 households across Indonesia received access to piped water and 5,000 households received access to piped sewers. Australia has committed A$85 million to the second phase, and the United States government has committed US$10 million. It will reach an estimated 1.47 million people.

“The Australian government supports Water and Sanitation Hibah because everybody benefits—local governments, water utilities and poor households,” says the Acting Head of AusAID in Indonesia, Mat Kimberly.

“We see that people who have already received a water connection have more time, more energy, lower expenses, better health and more economic opportunities because they no longer have to buy bottled water or cart water long distances,” added Mr Kimberly.

“Water is a basic human need, but for many, accessing safe, clean water is not a reality,” said USAID Mission Director Andrew Sisson. “USAID is pleased to partner with AusAID to support local governments and help provide water connections and sanitation services to low-income families.”

“Drinking water is the biggest problem in our neighbourhood,” says retired civil servant, Anwar from Palembang, which benefitted from the first phase of Water Hibah. “The only option is the Musi River, which the community depends on for all its water needs. Now that we have piped water, I only hope that the programme continues so that more poor households can have clean water.”

Cities and districts in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Aceh, Lampung, Riau, Banten, Maluku, Papua, Bali and Gorontalo will benefit from the water and sanitation initiative.

Water and Sanitation Hibah supports the Indonesian government’s Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living without access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.

Media enquiries:
Samantha Magick, AusAID Senior Public Affairs Officer, 0811 187 2365, [email protected]
Janice Laurente, USAID Communications Officer, 021 3435 9800, [email protected]