ITB and IATPI Held National Seminar to Discuss Drinking Water
By Bayu Rian Ardiyansyah
Editor Bayu Rian Ardiyansyah
Bandung, itb.ac.id - The government has set a target of increasing access to drinking water services to the entire population of Indonesia in 2019. According to that issue, ITB Environmental Engineering Department collaborated with Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (IATPI) held national seminar themed "Challenges of Drinking Water Development in the Context of Achieving Target 100% Coverage Access Service in 2019". Seminar which held on Thursday (18/12/14) in the West Hall ITB invited representatives of various parties who involve in drinking water access, including government, academician, professional association, industry association, non-government organization such as IUWASH and WSP, also students.
The event opened by speech from Prof. Suprihanto Notodarmojo as Dean of ITB Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty and continued by Dr. Ir. Alex Abdi Chalik as Chairman of IATPI. "This is difficult challenge but not impossible. Indonesia actually have fifth biggest water sources in the world, but the problem is that water source is uneven. Moreover, nowadays poor peoples have to pay higher than rich peoples. So, here the government should take role to benefits the society," said Prof. Suprihanto.
The seminar divided into three sessions started with key paper presentation about initiatives sustainable settlement program by Directorate General of Human Settlement, Ministry of Public Works and Folk Housing. Further, each session discussed themes that related each other, that are policy strategies in developing drinking water in 2015-2019, water sources and regional performance management of drinking water, also perspective of multilateral development institution and business entity. Each session presented by competent and experienced speakers from various backgrounds to make interactive and constructive dialog about the topic. Besides, this seminar was also discussion place among participants as an input to the policies and strategies formulation for the future development of drinking water.
As closing stage, drafting team led by Imamsyah Rusli delivered the formulation based on discussion in this national seminar. Imamsyah explained that the root cause of drinking water problems in Indonesia included raw water sources, management system, technical aspect, institution and human resources capacity, till about funding scheme. That root causes need to be immediately addressed together. Then, this formulation will be delivered as recommendation for Ministry of Public Works and Folk Housing. "Results of this seminar will be delivered to the government. It can sharpen strategic steps in accelerating development of drinking water to be immediately realized. What is important is the commitment, synergy of all parties, and being optimistic that this can be achieved," lid Alex.
