Analysis of Drinking Water Supply in PDAM Tirta Kualo in

Tanjung Balai City

Ruri Prihatini Lubis, Subhilhar, R. Hamdani Harahap, Fikarwin Zuska

Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Drinking Water Supply, Governance, Water, Management, Sustainable Development Goals.

Abstract: PDAM Tirta Kualo as the only water supply company in Tanjung Balai city that organize the drinking water

supply system to the costumers of Tanjungbalai. The local Government depute PDAM Tirta Kualo to

develop and manage water supply system to the customers in Tanjung balai City . Safe water supply is an

universal issues, in Tanjungbalai City aswell. Issues that faced by PDAM Tirta Kualo in implementation of

drinking water supply such as, the existing distribution network only able to reach few areas of the city, the

ratio of the employees compared to the ratio of costomers are unbalanced, many ilegal connections,

technically the facilities and infrastructures are inadequate, including not all customers have water meter as

payment measurement tools. These issues caused disruption in services and governances of drinking water

supply by PDAM Tirta Kualo. This research aims to formulate a sustainable governance of drinking water

supply measured through community perceptions of the services provided. The results showed the needs of

improvements in corporate governance related to the adjustment of the ratio of employees to customers,

improvement of the infrastructures both the distribution network and water meter procurement, as well as

increasing the capacity building of the human resources to give excellent services to costumers.

1 INTRODUCTION

Safe water supply is an universal issues, in

Tanjungbalai as well. Drinking water services in

Tanjungbalai for its residents regulated on Regional

Regulation No. 1 on November 1, 1988 were

conducted by PDAM Tirta Kualo by utilizing

surface water sourced from the Silau River.

The coverage services of PDAM Tirta Kualo is

71% of the people of Tanjungbalai City, based on

the amount of investment that needed to treat the

surface water, but with consideration that alternative

drinking water sources are difficult to obtain in

Tanjungbalai (Pemerintah Kota Tanjungbalai, 2018).

There are several issues in supplying safe

drinking water in Tanjungbalai City, such as:

a. Water production does not meet the requirements

in terms of quality, quantity and continuity.

b. Many customers who do not have a water meter

to measure water payments.

c. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) has not

been implemented.

d. The number of employees are not proportional

compare with the number of customers.

e. There are many illegal customers.

f. Non-revenue water is stil high.

g. The debt of costumer are uncollectible and

affected the operational costs.

h. The condition of water treatment and deep wells

are not good.

i. Many leak in pipelines system.

j. Low quality of human resources.

k. The payment system does not use payment point

online banking.

l. The administrative system is not in accordance

with the quality management procedures and ISO.

m. The regulation of goods and services procurement

is not yet implemented.

n. The amount of corporate debt.

Based on this, it is necessary to do an analysis of

the supply of drinking water by PDAM Tirta Kualo

which aims to create a sustainable drinking water

supply governance in the Tanjungbalai City.

2 METHOD

The unit of analysis of this study is PDAM Tirta

Kualo, located in North Sumatra Province. The

Lubis, R., Subhilhar, ., Harahap, R. and Zuska, F.

Analysis of Drinking Water Supply in PDAM Tirta Kualo in Tanjung Balai City.

DOI: 10.5220/0010019103290333

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social and Political Development (ICOSOP 3 2019) - Social Engineering Governance for the People, Technology and Infrastructure in

Revolution Industry 4.0, pages 329-333

ISBN: 978-989-758-472-5

329

focus of this research is to analyze the governance of

existing clean water supply in Tanjungbalai City

carried out by PDAM Tirta Kualo. This research

using qualitative method. The qualitative method is

a research procedure that produces descriptive data

in the form of written or oral words from people and

behaviors that can be translated. Descriptive

qualitative methods are used to study and explain

cases naturally (Creswell, 2013

)

Observation technique is an activity that focuses

attention on an object by using all the senses. The

things observed in this study cannot be separated

from the focus of the above researchers analysis of

drinking water supply by PDAM Tirta Kualo in

Tanjungbalai City.

3 RESULT

3.1 Overview of Tanjungbalai City

The city of Tanjungbalai is geographically located

between 2 ° 58 'North Latitude and 99 ° 48' East

Longitude with an area of 60,529 Km² (6,052,9 Ha),

which is surrounded by the Asahan Regency Region.

The boundaries of the Tanjungbalai City area are as

follows: South of the Simpang Empat District.

Asahan, North of Tanjungbalai District, Kab.

Asahan, in the East with Sei Kepayang District, Kab.

Asahan, in the west with Simpang Empat District,

Kab. Asahan.

Administratively, Tanjungbalai City consists of 6

subdistricts. Based on Regional Regulation no. 6 of

2008, on August 4, 2008 concerning the Formation

of Datuk Bandar Timur Subdistrict and Regional

Regulation no. 3 of 2008 on February 22, 2008

concerning the Establishment of Johor Beach

Village in Datuk Bandar District, the Tanjungbalai

City area became 6 districts and 31 villages.

Based on the results of the 2010 Population

Census, the population of Tanjungbalai City was

recorded at 154,445 people, with a population

density of 2,552 people per km2. The highest

population is in Teluk Nibung Subdistrict with

35,802 inhabitants. While the most populous

population is in North Tanjungbalai District of

18,883 inhabitants per km2. Furthermore, in the

period 2000-2010 the population growth rate of

Tanjungbalai City was 1.55 percent (Figure 1). In

2018, the population of Tanjungbalai City will be

173,302 people (BPS-Statistics of Tanjungbalai

Municipality, 2018).

Figure 1: Population Growth Rate of Tanjungbalai City

2000 to 2010.

The population growth rate (Table 1) shows that

the relatively high-growth sub-district is Datuk

Bandar District (now Datuk Bandar + Datuk Bandar

Timur) by 2.94 percent. The high rate of population

growth in Datuk Bandar sub-district compared to

other sub-districts is because Datuk Bandar and

Datuk Bandar Timur sub-districts are still 1 sub-

district with a very wide area, and most of the

population also live in this sub-district, especially

people with livelihoods agriculture. On the other

hand, in some other sub-districts in the City of

Tanjungbalai, the population growth rate actually

decreased (minus), including South Tanjungbalai

District by minus 1.76 percent and North

Tanjungbalai District by minus 0.45 percent.

Table 1: Number and growth rate of population of

Tanjungbalai City by District in 2000 – 2010.

District

Number of

populations

Population

Growth

Rate/Year

(%)

2000-2010

2000

201

Datuk Bandar

Timur

45.468 60.739 2,94

Tanjungbalai

Selatan

23.089 19.330 - 1,74

Tanjungbalai

Utara

16.589 15.862 - 0,45

Sei Tualang

Raso

18.348 22.712 2,16

Teluk Nibung 28.944 35.802 2,15

Kota

Tanjungbalai

132.438 154.445 1,55

One of the most serious population issues is the

uneven distribution of population between regions,

so that the density for each District is not evenly

distributed. Population density is usually centered in

urban center areas which generally have the facilities

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needed by residents of suburban areas to do business

in urban areas. In Tanjungbalai City, the largest

population is in Teluk Nibung Subdistrict, which is

usually said to be a suburb, but this area is an

industrial and fishing landing area which is the main

livelihood of the majority of Tanjungbalai City

residents, even in this area the National and

International Ports are located. then it is natural that

in this sub-district the largest number of inhabitants

live. But still there is an imbalance in population

density in each district. Problems often arise due to

overcrowding, especially regarding housing, health

and safety. Therefore, population distribution must

be a particular concern of the government in

carrying out development.

Figure 2. Population Density of Tanjungbalai City by

Kecamatan 2018.

3.2 Profile of PDAM Tirta Kualo

The presence of PDAM in Indonesia as the main

provider of drinking water services is made possible

through law no. 5 of 1962 as a regional government-

owned business entity that provides services and

organizes public benefits in the field of drinking

water. PDAM activities range from collecting,

processing and clarifying to distributing to

customers.

The drinking water supply company in

Tanjungbalai City was established on January 22,

1936 under the name WATER LEIDING BEDRIJF,

promulgated in Javasche Courat-No. 18. Based on

the Decree of the Mayor of the Regional Head of the

Kindergarten. II Tanjungbalai, on April 22, 1974

Number: 3/KDH/1974 exchanged their names and

status as the Office of Drinking Water Companies.

Then with the approval of the Regional House of

Representatives at the Tk. II Tanjungbalai, dated 15-

12-1981 number 729 / DPRD / TB / 81 and based on

mutual agreement between the Mayor of

Tanjungbalai and the North Sumatra Clean Water

Project, starting from October 1, 1982, his status

became BPAM.

Tirta Kualo Regional Water Company (PDAM)

was formed based on Regional Regulation Number:

1 dated 18 November 1988. Organization and Work

Procedure of PDAM Tirta Kualo Tanjungbalai City

was formed based on Tanjungbalai City Regulation

No. 09 of 2009, in accordance with Minister of

Internal Affairs regulations No. 2 of 2007.

3.3 Drinking Water Supply by PDAM

Tirta Kualo

Based on the Decree of the Minister of Public

Works No. 269/KPTS/1984 dated August 8, 1984,

it was said that the implementation of the

management of infrastructure and supply of clean

water to the community was fair and equitable,

continuously in accordance with hygiene

requirements and aimed at generating additional

income for the local government. Furthermore, the

Decree of the Minister of Home Affairs number:

690-096 year 1994 regulates the pattern of PDAM

technical guidance including having the main

function of public services to the community, being

able to finance itself, developing service levels, and

becoming a source of PAD (Regional Original

Income) for the City Tanjung Balai.

Based on data from PDAM Tirta Kualo, an

overview of clean water supply by PDAM Tirta

Kualo is shown in Table 2. It shows an increase in

the number of residents in the City of Tanjungbalai

from 2017 to 2018 amounted to 2,408 people. This

resulted in an increase in the percentage of SR,

which was previously 23,320%, increasing to

24,520%.

However, of the total installed water debit,

PDAM Tirta Kualo did not experience an increase

from the previous year, resulting in an increase in

deficit deficit in water debit from the previous 29 lt /

sec increased to 49 lt / sec.

Analysis of Drinking Water Supply in PDAM Tirta Kualo in Tanjung Balai City

331

Table 2: Overview of water supply by PDAM Tirta Kualo Kota Tanjungbalai.

Year

Number of

populations

(inhabitants)

Total

House

connection

(inhabitants)

Persentage

of House

connection

Percentage of

served

populations

Total

installed

Debit

(lt/sec)

Water

debit

needs

(lt/sec)

Debit

defiviency

(lt/sec)

2017 169,367 116,600 23,320 68,84 360 389 29

2018 171,775 122,600 24,520 71,37 360 409 49

Source : PDAM Tirta Kualo, 2018

Table 3: Comparison of water production with water loss in PDAM Tirta Kualo in 2018.

Year Water Productions m

Water distribution

Water sold m

NRW

Presentage of non

revenue water (%)

2018 10.798.236 10.516.773 6.639.862 3.876.911 36,86

Source : PDAM Tirta Kualo 2018

The comparison between water production and

the percentage of water loss is presented in Table 3.

It shows the percentage of water loss is still

relatively very high (36.86%) this is due to several

factors including: 1) the number of unregistered dark

connections by PDAM Tirta Kualo, 2) the

unavailability of water meters that measure water

usage by customers .

The obstacles faced by PDAM Tirta Kualo in the

supply of clean water are also related to the human

resources owned by PDAM Tirta Kualo. Data

related to the human resources of PDAM Tirta

Kualo is presented in Table 4.

Table 4: Total of human resources in PDAM Tirta Kualo

Kota Tanjungbalai.

Position Total (person) (%)

Director 1 0,35

Permanent

employees

249 87,99

Non permanent

employees

14 4,95

Contract employees 6 2,12

Securities 8 2,83

Intern 5 1,77

JUMLAH 283 100

Source: PDAM Tirta Kualo 2018

Based on the Table 5, the comparison between

the number of employees and the number of

customers served are not balanced. So that the

company's burden for operations and paying

employees is not proportional to the company's

revenue from water sales. The high level of

education of employees who are mostly senior high

school also hinders the services provided.

Table 5: Education level.

No. Level Educations Total (%)

1 Under graduate 71 25,18

2 Diploma 10 3,55

3 Senior High School 185 65,60

4 Junior High School 9 3,19

5 Elementary School 7 2,48

TOTAL 282 100

Source: PDAM Tirta Kualo 2018

The Tirta Kualo PDAM service development

program is a program that aims to increase the

number of customers and improve the quality of

services, such as improving the quality, quantity and

continuity in the supply of clean water to the people

of Tanjungbalai City. Improving the quality,

quantity and continuity is one of the missions of the

PDAM to be able to meet the community's need for

clean water that is fit for consumption. The

programs run by the PDAM in service development

are as follows:

1. Recording customers who do not have a water

meter and installing a water meter.

2. Conduct an assessment of the placement of

employees to fit the needs and abilities of

employees in improving services to the

company.

In an effort to resolve the problem of providing

clean water in the City of Tanjungbalai, PDAM Tirta

Kualo made the following efforts:

1. Form a customer investigation team, this team is

tasked with identifying and inventorying illegal

customers and re-registering customers who do

not have a water meter

2. Termination of illicit connections and delinquent

customers

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3. Arrange a new organizational structure in

accordance with article 9 Permendagri Number 2

of 2007 concerning PDAM organs and staffing;

4. Implement Company Operational Standards

(SOP)

5. Fit and proper test for employee placement and

position

6. Billing customers' arrears in water accounts

7. Accelerated repayment of corporate debt;

8. Creating an Online Payment Program / PPOB.

4 CONCLUSION

After conducting the research it can be concluded

that the implementation of the PDAM work program

has been carried out but there are still obstacles that

have caused some programs to experience delays in

the completion process. In its implementation, the

implementation of the PDAM work program still has

several inhibiting factors in its implementation,

especially the problem of operational costs and

inadequate water treatment and distribution

conditions and the low quality of human resources.

The level of service has not been maximized so the

level of customer complaints is still high.

5 SUGGESTION

From the results of the research conducted, the

researchers convey the following suggestions:

1. Implement the company SOP well so that it can

improve service to customers.

2. Install a water meter to all customer house

connections.

3. Resolve the problem of arrears in the customer's

Water Account to improve company finances.

4. Reducing the employee ratio and adjusted by the

number of customers.

5. Following training - training to improve the

quality of employees.

REFERENCES

BPS-Statistics Tanjungbalai Munipacility, 2018.

Tanjungbalai Munipacility in Figures 2018.

Creswell, J.W., 2013. Research design: pendekatan

kualitatif, kuantitatif, dan mixed, Pustaka Pelajar.

Yogyakarta, 3

edition.

PDAM Tirta Kualo, 2018. Profil perusahaan daerah air

minum (PDAM) Tirta Kualo, Kota Tanjungbalai.

Pemerintah Kota Tanjungbalai, 2018.

https://tanjungbalaikota.go.id/agenda/pesan-wali-kota-

tanjungbalai-kepada-direktur-pdam-tirta-kualo-yang-

baru pengelolaan-sumber-daya-air-dan-pemenuhan-

kebutuhan-air-bersih-harus-cepat-diatasi/

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