Determining factors and strategy in sustainable fecal sludge management services

Abstract

Currently, 65% of the total residents of Jakarta rely on groundwater as their primary water source for daily life. Groundwater quality is critical, with the presence of Escherichia coli bacteria throughout Jakarta significantly exceeding the limit. The solution to preventing groundwater pollution from fecal waste is through domestic wastewater management. On-site treatment is a solution to accelerate service achievement in Jakarta, but it has yet to be known which priority factors affect the sustainability of its services. This study aimed to determine the community's understanding of and interest in regular desludging services, the priority weights of sustainability factors for desludging services in Jakarta Province, and alternative sustainability strategies. The research and sampling in this study were conducted in Jakarta Province. Random sampling was conducted on 410 people. A hierarchical process analysis was conducted with 13 stakeholder respondents to determine the weight of the sustainability factors and the strategy to achieve sustainability of fecal sludge services. This study showed that 34.5% of Jakarta residents still rely on groundwater to meet their clean water needs through private and public wells. According to the regulations, 83% of people use septic tanks, but only 22% use desludging. To achieve sustainability of the fecal sludge service in Jakarta Province, the Leadership Factor has the highest priority, with a weight of 39%. The lowest priority was indicated by the technology factor, with a weight of 4.8%. An alternative strategy to achieve sustainability showed the highest priority weight of 82.6% for regular desludging services compared with on-call desludging. Regulations and sanctions support regular desludging. The role of leaders, both regional leaders and institutions, in committing to achieve service targets in a region is very important. Regular desludging services are recommended to ensure the sustainability of fecal sludge services in Jakarta Province.