In Oct-Nov 2020, the project team from University of Indonesia (UI) and Universitas Muhammadiyah Metro (UMM) successfully carried out a large-scale household survey, infrastructure assessment and water quality testing across five sub-districts (‘Kelurahan’) in Kota Metro, a city of 170,000 people.
Self-supply is widespread in Kota Metro, with a majority of households sourcing their drinking water from privately-owned shallow wells.
Typical water sources in Kota Metro
Data collection in Kota Metro: household interview being conducted and groundwater depth being measured
The survey teams collected data from 300 households, whilst maintain strict COVID-19 precautions. The surveys captured key socio-economic and WASH information, whilst water quality testing sought to measure E. coli concentrations for all drinking water sources using the IDEXX quanti-tray method.
The lab team processing water quality samples with the IDEXX quant-tray system
Results will be analysed over the coming months, and a second round of data collection in Kota Metro is planned for February 2021, which will enable comparison of results across seasons.