For a poor farming family in central Java, supplying the prized cow or goats with drinking water takes priority over washing themselves.
Although the island is famed for its heavy rainfall, lush tropical forests and humid climate, the dry season in Klaten district, central Java, can last up to six months and families are often forced to buy their water from private companies at a price so high they cannot afford to waste it on bathing themselves.
"The first priority is water for cooking and drinking. The second is providing water for their cattle and other livestock. They don't have money to spend on water for toilets or washing," said Claire Quillet, a water and environmental sanitation specialist with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), in central Java.
Typically a family might spend as much as 30,000 rupees (US$3.20) per week to buy drinking water, a significant portion of an average monthly income of between 70,000 to 300,000 rupees ($ 7.70-$33).
Cows and goats are an insurance policy, which is why they are given special care. If crops fail, or a family needs to pay for a wedding or circumcision ceremony, a cow is sold.
Infections abound
Up to 75 percent of people in Klaten lack private toilets or washing facilities. The effects on their health is disastrous, say officials.
 The first priority is water for cooking and drinking. The second is providing water for their cattle and other livestock. They don't have money to spend on water for toilets or washing. |
Dengue and malaria are endemic, because during the dry season farmers store rainwater for irrigation in underground tanks, which are easily contaminated and are fertile breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which carry the diseases, said Quillet.
Most residents use fields or rivers as public latrines, said UNICEF field officer Dheni Ardhian. "I think they know that if they use rivers they are polluting them and can get sick," Ardhian said, "but they believe nothing like that will happen to them."
UNICEF is building rainwater catchment tanks for 1,500 families in seven villages in Klaten to provide them with a safer, closed water storage system. But as part of the project, the families involved must agree to build their own private toilets.
Joint effort
"We say to them, we're building you a water catchment tank so you don't spend [money] on buying water, and so with this bit of money you save, you should build a latrine," Quillet told IRIN.
UNICEF is also educating residents in seven villages in Klaten as well as residents in another 32 villages in the neighbouring province of Yogakarta about the importance of proper hygiene.
About one-third of Indonesia's population of approximately 220 million, or 69 million people, lack access to adequate sanitation. In addition, an estimated 55 million people cannot access proper water supplies, according to a World Health Organization/UNICEF study.
The UN has declared this the year of sanitation. It points out that providing clean water and proper sanitation reduces poverty and has the potential to drastically improve health standards.
According to UNICEF, proper sanitation lowers child mortality rates, increases the number of girls who go to school and reduces malnutrition and infection rates.
Improved sanitation also has a significant impact on economic growth and poverty reduction. A recent WHO study found that every dollar spent on improving sanitation generates an average economic benefit of $9.10.
In Indonesia, lack of access to water and sanitation affects not just to rural communities and poor people's homes, but schools across the archipelago, according to UNICEF. It said most Indonesian schools do not provide access to clean toilets, with water. A study found only 55 percent of schools have hand-washing facilities, and only 9 percent of schools supplied soap.
Promoting good hygiene
To counter the poor conditions and educate children about the importance of good hygiene, UNICEF launched a Wash in Schools Programme in 2006, which runs until 2010.
 Photo: Marianne Kearney/IRIN  |
| A UNICEF poster encourages communities to wash their hands. It is part of a public awareness campaign to promote good hygiene |
In Klaten, UNICEF is helping schools to build rainwater tanks to provide students with proper sanitation. But to ensure "buy-in" or involved support from the community and the department of education, the schools must also contribute to the construction of the water facilities.
"We pay for most of the rainwater tanks but the schools must also give some money, and they have to provide some labour for the construction," said Quillet.
Complementing the construction of sanitation facilities is a hygiene education campaign. UNICEF is working with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Welfare, USAID, WHO, Johns Hopkins University/Centre for Communication Programme (CCP) and International Relief and Development (IRD) on the campaign.
mk/bj/mw
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
