Villagers face daily swim for clean water
MAKASSAR: Villager Mama Hasria, 46, swims upstream with about 200 empty jerrycans tied to her back, a daily trip she and other local women make to get clean water for their community on Sulawesi.
As the scorching sun beats down, Mama makes the 4km, hour-long trip along the murky Mandar river to clean water wells built along the riverbank.
There, Mama fills up her cans with clean water made drinkable by the surrounding soil, which acts as a natural filter and purifier.
The work of Mama and her fellow water collectors, who get paid about 500 rupiah (RM0.14) for each can, or US$7 (RM27) for the whole load, is vital for some 5,800 families in Tinambung district.
Thursday was World Water Day, a United Nations initiative, which this year focused on “nature-based” solutions for sourcing potable water globally.
It is a challenge in Tinambung where residents have complained for years about limited access to clean water in the remote fishing village.
“We have to collect water from upstream for drinking and cooking,” Mama said.
“Water in the village can be used only for bathing and doing laundry.”
Other communities struggle with similar challenges in Indonesia, which has myriad environmental problems and the dubious distinction of hosting the filthy Citarum river, which empties into the sea near Jakarta.
A decade ago, the World Bank declared it the most-polluted river in the world.
Faced with a health emergency after decades of failed clean-up efforts, the government is stepping in with the seemingly impossible goal of making the Citarum’s water drinkable by 2025.