Reducing open defecation and standing water are essential factors in improving sanitation, and most slum communities in Jakarta lack adequate latrine and drainage infrastructure. Our team facilitates community members to realize the connection between sanitation and their well-being and to decide what they can do to improve their sanitation conditions. Renovating, constructing and maintaining latrines, or drainage and infiltration projects are actions undertaken to improve sanitation.

LATRINE IMPROVEMENTS AND CONSTRUCTION

A major challenge in eliminating open defecation is the lack of sufficient latrine facilities. In addition to the lack of space, the majority of people we work with live in informal communities with land ownership issues, which complicates siting a place to put a latrine (along with high water table limitations). In some cases our team works with community members to rehabilitate existing latrines, and in cases where constructing new latrines is appropriate, our role focuses on mobilization and technical advising for community members. In all cases, the defecation practices and facilities appropriate for children are considered, as are hand-washing facilities.

Baby Potties
It is common to see children toileting in a gutter in urban slum communities in Jakarta. There are many children and parents are often too busy to take them to public toilets, which also typically require a usage fee, so instead they go freely anywhere. There is typically no sanitary place to dispose of babies’ cloth diaper fillings either. Our team organizes and facilitates Baby Potty Training for caregivers on sanitary baby-waste handling and toilet training toddlers. In 2012, our team worked with health cadres to train 65 caretakers, which included household follow-up visits to monitor progress in baby-waste handling.

Latrine Renovations
Many of the makeshift latrines are built to drain human waste directly into canals as community members see canals as having a disposal function to move the waste away from their location. Our team facilitation has resulted in community awareness to improve their toilets with septic tanks and to organize community work for construction. During 2011 in Teluk Gong for example, renovations of toilets used by approximately 300 people were completed by community members.

Latrine Construction
Unfortunately many people are accustomed to not having adequate sanitation facilities, so, in addition to the physical limitations, mobilizing community member contributions to constructing and maintaining latrines is not easy. Nonetheless, our team conducts a variety of awareness activities with community groups to motivate commitment and support for latrine construction. Local leaders in five community clusters (40 to 100 residents per cluster) in Bintaro Baru and Utan Kayu Selatan, have succeeded in changing the minds of residents to improve their latrines with proper septic tanks, which most people previously thought it was not their business, interest or priority.

DRAINAGE AND INFILTRATION

Jakarta is notorious for flooding during the rainy season, where projects pertaining to drainage and infiltration are of certain interest. Plus, standing water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes, so in these communities familiar with Malaria and Dengue Fever, projects to improve drainage and infiltration are well accepted. Preventing flooding is not reasonably attainable since the communities we serve live on land prone to flooding, so we work with beneficiaries to implement small mitigating steps to improve the drainage and infiltration where they live to reduce standing water.

Biopori Holes
Biopori is the name of a tool used to dig small holes that are about 10-30 cm in diameter and 80-100 cm deep that can be filled with biodegradable material. These tools are available locally and cost about IDR 250,000 (roughly US$25) each. We have conducted community-scale Biopori Day activities with Tanjung Priok and Teluk Gong communities, where we had participants digging together and inherently raising attention around a practical remedy for increasing infiltration. Over 130 holes were dug in 2010 for example, to help reduce the incidence of standing water. Though difficult to quantify, community members have noticed a difference, which encourages them to dig more.

Planting Trees
Planting trees creates more pathways for infiltration to occur, helped by the root and fauna activities underground. Beyond the many benefits of increasing the number of trees, to stabilize soil, reduce erosion, improve air quality, etc., planting is a small contributing step community members can take towards mitigating flooding (and also helps mediate the heat in the dry season). Soil conditions are poor and there is not a lot of land space to plant in most cases, so to get plants to take root, we almost always have to mix compost and good soil with the local “soil” (which is usually more packed clay). Nonetheless, we have been working with Tanjung Priok Community since 2005 for example, who have planted and maintained more than 100 local trees in their neighborhood.

Drainage Infrastructure
Almost all the communities we work with live in lowlands with very little slope and high water tables. Stagnant pools of water, trash-filled gutters and mosquito bites are commonplace. Standing water is typically found around water wells and bathrooms, so the focus of our project work involves improving related existing drainage pathways if feasible or creating new ones. Our team worked with Bintaro Baru Community in 2011 for example, to renovate washing stations with improved drainage benefiting more than 200 people.