Stunting is common in Papua and West Papua. This occurs because access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation in this Cenderawasih land remains limited. Once again, this is one of some domestic issues that the Indonesian government should resolve. It is significant because human life is heavily reliant on water.
It is worth noting that Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals is to ensure the availability and long-term management of safe drinking water and sanitation for all levels of society. Stay on this page to learn more about the problem of access to clean water and proper sanitation in this land of paradise.
Achieving Access to Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
Humans can go days without eating, but they can’t go more than a few hours without drinking. This is since the majority of the elements in the human body are made up of fluids. That’s why, throughout history, every human civilization was discovered near springs.
Until now, humans have always relied on water to survive. Consumption, thirst-quenching, cooking, and bathing are all examples. So it is safe to say that humans will always require water. And the 2030 Agenda is being implemented to ensure the availability of safe drinking water for all human needs.
Drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) problems, as well as other aspects of the water cycle such as waste, water use efficiency, integrated resource management, and aquatic ecosystem protection, are all targets for conflict resolution.
Water resources have a significant impact on many aspects of human life. Among them for the benefit of promoting progress in a variety of fields. Call for it to help with nutrition, health, education, and poverty alleviation.
Human development and growth can be helped by meeting their water demands. So that it will benefit the future generation of a strong and better country and state because pure water contains minerals required by the body.
If clean water is not accessible, this scenario can lead to a variety of ailments. Diarrhea and morbidity, for example, can be fatal in young people. Furthermore, poor sanitation and inadequate water hygiene might result in malnutrition and stunting.
The Red Card
It is reported that the provision of potable drinking water in Papua and West Papua declined in 2020. To clarify, appropriate drinking water, according to BPS requirements, is drinking water that is at least 10 meters away from a waste disposal site and is obtained from taps, boreholes, or pumping wells, protected wells, protected springs, including rainfall, but not bottled water.
For more information, bottled water is drinking water that is obtained by a large percentage of the people in Papua and West Papua, which is 27.57 percent, unprotected springs up to 24.62 percent, rainwater up to 18.69 percent, protected springs 10, 45 percent, unprotected wells 5.51 percent, residential water 4.2 percent, piped 3.69 percent, protected wells 3.24 percent, pumps 1.93 percent, and others 0.09 percent.
This data shows that the inhabitants of Papua and West Papua are still extremely susceptible to access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene. One real-life example may be seen at the Yoka Health Center in Jayapura.
It is still challenging to obtain clean and safe water in regions where health institutions are expected to provide optimal services for treatment and healing requirements. As a result, due to a lack of pure water during the dry season, Puskesmas must reduce services.
Several attempts have been made, including the government’s promotion of the integration process and the construction of clean water infrastructure, such as water channel facilities and reservoirs in strategic locations.
However, there are still difficulties with this. Some folks are apathetic enough to take care of the public amenities that have been established, while some even cut the water lines on purpose.
With a score of 45 out of a possible 75, Papua Province earned a red report card and the moniker “worst sanitation in the country.” One of the causes of this is a general lack of clean and healthy living habits.
People continue to eat without washing their hands, defecate irresponsibly, lack access to clean water, and litter.
It is said that only 35 communities out of 3000 in the area have adopted Community-Based Total Sanitation (STBM), that access to drinking water is only 46 percent, and access to healthy toilets is 42 percent.
The Efforts
The government has developed many development measures to catch up and improve this situation. For instance, in the Asmat area of Papua province,
Apart from providing access to drinking water and sanitation services, this endeavor also counsels the community on healthy and healthy living habits. So, this can help to tackle the overall problem of inadequate sanitation.
Because Asmat is located in the marshy territory, the community can’t benefit from water sources from dug wells because the water is brackish.
Hence, the government constructs a water management installation (IPA) for daily needs as well as rainwater storage for consumption during the dry season. The projected IPA construction is intended to serve 500 people. At the very least, enough for one hamlet.
Furthermore, the government is aiming to build toilets in Puskesmas and schools as part of a labor-intensive program to develop sanitary infrastructure separately for men and women in the future.
So that was a short narrative on Papua’s access to drinking water, sanitation, and clean water. Further, those of you who live in areas where there is no lack of pure water must begin saving money and not take it for granted.
