A sweet but expensive sound is the gentle whir of a water
meter. Did I say whir? That doesn’t sound right. Water
meters are not supposed to whir, they are supposed to click.....
slowly.
The phone rang. It was Fred.
“The little a wheel, it is a turning veery fast.”
Déjà vu.
I think the first time déjà vu happens it isn’t,
it’s the second.
“How can I help you?”
“I have just received a water bill for Rp10,000,000”
he said.
“You only pay once a year?” I queried.
“No” he said, “that is for one month.”
“Rp10,000,000 for one month? Obviously you have just
refilled your Olympic size swimming pool” I said.
“But I don’t have an Olympic size swimming pool”
he said.
“Perhaps you are using the town water to fill your paddy
fields?” I queried.
“No” he said emphatically.
“Fish farm? Perhaps a car wash business? A laundrette
maybe?”
“No” he said “No, no, no” even more
emphatically. “I have a villa.”
The emphaticism was a little convincing so I thought I’d
better not tempt fate by asking him how many showers he was
taking every day or discussing the high level of evaporation
one can expect in Bali. I thought I had better take a look.
“Can you send someone very fast?” Fred asked with
a note of desperation in his voice.
Déjà vu.
I think the first time déjà vu happens it isn’t,
it’s the second.
From the bill we worked out he had been using 2,000 litres
of water an hour, even with a five bedroom villa and lots
of guests that is a lot of water. Just as a point of useless
information world health standards say that a person needs
a minimum of around 13 litres of water per day.
While most people in Bali have a well or bore and pump to
provide water to their house there is in fact a reticulated
“town” water supply in many parts of the island
provided by PDAM. If you have a town supply you will have
a water meter. Your water meter, if you have one, records
cubic metres of water used and, of course, one cubic metre
is 1,000 litres. You are charged per cubic metre.
First we checked that all the taps were turned off and no
toilets running. Still there was the gentle hum of rupiah
flowing into the tills of the PDAM.
I poked around in the undergrowth. Hidden outside the boundary
wall under a beautiful green tree and some rather thriving
lush vegetation was a large pool of water. The septic tank
was full and overflowing and an outside drain had a healthy
flow going into it. It appeared that Fred had been irrigating
the whole district for quite some time.
It should be noted that septic systems and drainage should
be totally isolated from each other to prevent raw sewerage
getting into open drainage.
Now comes the tricky bit. Where do the pipes go after they
disappear into the concrete path?
“Do you, perchance, happen to have any drawings of the
property with pipes marked on? Sorry, yes, I know, stupid
question.”
No paperwork can be a problem. You know what it’s like
when you go into a shop and see a beautiful stylish rocking
chair. The nice man says they will deliver it the next day.
The next day a man turns up with a flat box!
“Oh you assemble it yourself” he says in an offhand
manner “it’s very easy, just follow the instructions.”
He scurries off down the path a little faster than makes you
feel comfortable.
You open the box to find lots of small pieces. “Where
are the instructions?”
You turn round to see Fido disappearing out the door with
a piece of paper in his mouth. Nothing makes any sense and
after a while you give up.
Three years later you have finally got around to the job that
never gets done - you are cleaning out the junk room. You
come across a flat cardboard box……
If ever you have a building built or you buy a new house always
insist that you get copies of the drawings, particularly the
drawings of the electrical layout and the services (water,
sewerage, drainage, etc.) In the highly likely event that
you will have a problem in the future it can save a lot of
time and trouble knowing where things are.
I studied the layout of Fred’s place and intuition lead
to a healthy looking tree next to the septic tank.
“Dig there.” I said
“There?” said Fred
“Yes there” said I.
I watched frustrated while two local tukangs grovelled around
in a muddy hole for an hour trying to dig with a pickaxe and
a desert spoon (ever tried to dig mud with a pickaxe?). Eventually,
just as Edward James Murphy would predict, a hefty swing of
the pick and the pipe was revealed by a hiss and a jet of
water. The tukang was surprised, I wasn’t.
A little further digging and we found the cause of the problem
- a two inch plastic pipe and a joint had come apart. They
do you know when they have not been glued properly in the
first place. Funny that. Five more minutes and the job was
finished and one cashier at PDAM was worrying about her job.
It is surprising how much water can run from a fairly small
leak. Let us say your toilet is running or a tap is dripping
and you are losing a cupful every ten seconds, that is three
litres a minute which is 134,000 litres a month - that is
a lot of water. Do you realise you could clean your teeth
three times a day for 366 years with that much water (unless
you’ve got very big teeth in which case it will be a
mere 244 years).
Plastic pipe joints often come apart in Bali.
Plumbers tend to cut and assemble pipework before they finally
glue it together. They then go back and glue all the joints,
if they miss disassembling and gluing one joint you have a
problem and, with a local tendency to bury plastic pipes in
concrete walls and under floors, this can be a serious issue.
So what are the lessons from Fred’s story?
Well first, as I have already said, make sure you get layout
plans of the services in your new house. Secondly ask your
friendly builder to think of maintenance when deciding where
to put pipes and wiring. Thirdly check your water meter to
make sure it stops turning when everything is turned off.
Fourthly make sure none of you taps or toilets are running
and finally do not search for a water pipe with a pickaxe.
As a final comment if you are considering using the town water
supply for your new home be aware that the water pressure
can vary enormously through the day, I have a friend who has
such high town water pressure it blows the pipes off the taps
at night but in the morning no pressure at all. In fact it
has become quite a talking point. You’ll often see people
on street corners discussing how their water pressure is in
the morning! “How’s your water pressure this morning
dearie?”
Varying mains supply, hmmmm sounds like a recent story.
Déjà vu.
I think the first time déjà vu happens it isn’t,
it’s the second.
Phil Wilson
Phil Wilson is a project director for Focus Indonesia and
a partner of MrFixit property maintenance services. Opinions
expressed are those of Phil Wilson. If you have any questions
or comments he can be contacted at the office on 0361 288
789 or through the website at www.mrfixitbali.com
