In Feb-Mar 2020, University of Indonesia (UI) successfully carried out a large-scale household survey, infrastructure assessment and water quality testing across three districts (‘kecamatan’) in Bekasi city.

A street in Bekasi

Franziska Genter (University of Technology Sydney) and Brilyana Bela Islami (University of Indonesia) pilot water quality testing protocol in Bekasi

Technical and social enumerator teams from UI worked tirelessly over a three week campaign and overcame various challenges, including flooding and the emergence of COVID-19. The surveys captured key socio-economic and WASH information for more 300 households, almost all of whom rely on self-supply (mainly in the form of drilled boreholes) for their domestic water needs.

Two women test water in Bekasi

The research team from University of Indonesia carry out water quality testing of self-supplied water

The UI water quality team – with support of project partners from ISF-UTS and North Carolina State University – measured E. coli concentration at the drinking water source for each household, and also for a sub-set of households at their point-of-use.

People sitting in a circle

Researchers from University of Indonesia conduct training for the technical enumerator team in Bekasi

A second round of data collection is now planned for late 2020 or early 2021, to enable comparison of results across seasons.