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Bathing in the morning has always been a daily challenge for Holida, 35, a mother of three.

But she said that when the water stopped running on Tuesday for the umpteenth time in the past year, even she was exhausted by the ruckus that broke out in her small home in an alley in Karet Tengsin, South Jakarta.

“We had a little water saved up,” Holida said. “Jeni, my second daughter, and my oldest, Astrid, are forever fighting to use the water to bathe before going off to school. Jeni insisted she needed to bathe because she was taking exams. Astrid got angry and refused to go to school.”

The tap was dry until Friday, when it ran for a few hours before stopping again.

“There was also just a trickle of water on Thursday. Again, it stopped, before resuming again on Friday. Then it stopped again,” Holida said.

She buys gallon-bottles of water for drinking and cooking for Rp 3,500. But when it comes to showering and using the toilet, she occasionally depends on the generosity of her neighbor, who uses a jet pump to pull water from the ground.

“Luckily I have a nice neighbor and she knows my children need water. But I feel reluctant to always ask for it,” Holida said.

She said her family could not really afford to spend the at least Rp 5 million ($550) necessary to buy their own pump.

In recent days, when the water completely stopped running, Holida and her husband, Asep, a security guard, had to use a public bathroom to bathe and wash their clothes.

It costs Rp 1,000 for a shower and Rp 5,000 to wash clothes.

“We pay too much for water and desperately wish the tap water could be more dependable,” she said.

Holida is just one of thousands of the capital’s residents who continue to suffer from taps running dry. Operators PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) and PT Aetra Air Jakarta have both reported drastic disruptions to their water supplies. Both are subcontracted by city water operator PAM Jaya.

Holida is a customer of Palyja, as is her sister, who also lives in the area. Both families spend Rp 150,000 a month on water bills, but the water rarely comes. Water has lately been running for just a couple of hours a day, if at all.

Karet Tengsin

Holida’s entire neighborhood had no water for the whole month of Ramadhan last year. So she gathered up some of her neighbors and called Palyja’s office from a public telephone.

“It was the fasting month. There was no water. It was outrageous,” she said.

“I asked my neighbors to scream in protest on the phone so that the operator could hear what was going on,” Holida said.

The water started flowing two days later when officials came to repair the problem.

One month, Holida was shocked to find that her water bill had reached Rp 500,000.

“I never use much water so how could my bill be so high?” she said. “I protested and Palyja told me to pay in installments.”

Sunter Muara

Sum, 45, who owns a chicken noodle and juice stall in Sunter Muara, North Jakarta, said the water had not been on since Sunday night. Sum is a customer of Aetra.

Unlike Holida, Sum needs gallons of water to run her small business, so she resorts to buying jerry cans from water sellers on the road, as well as using groundwater via a pump. It cost her Rp 1.5 million just to dig into the ground. Sum said many of her neighbors had decided to use jet pumps because of Aetra’s horrendous service.

“The tap water is clear but smelly, like wastewater,” she said. “The family only uses it for washing dishes or clothes. Can you believe it used to be reddish in color?”

Tambora

Leo, 44, who lives in Tambora, West Jakarta, said water services in his home were managed by Palyja. “The water quality is murky. So even if we spend hours collecting it, it cannot be used for drinking or cooking,” Leo said.

The water had stopped since Wednesday. On Friday, only a few drops were trickling out of the faucet.

Leo said the whole neighborhood suffered. He said he was tired of calling the Palyja office because there was no improvement. “It is ironic. We pay for water but we are enslaved by it.”

The disruption is due to massive silting in the water pump in Curug, West Java, and broken pumps, including one at the Pulogadung water installation. This has reportedly caused the supply to be cut by up to 40 percent.

PAM Jaya president Hariyadi Priyohutomo was replaced on Friday. The new director is Mauritz Napitupulu, former head of Jakarta’s Industry and Energy Office.

Governor Fauzi Bowo summoned executives of both operators on Friday and warned them to fix the problems. Palyja promised supplies would be back to normal by Saturday night. Aetra said its services would be restored by Monday night.

Palyja vice president Herawati Prasetyo said the disruptions were not the company’s fault.

“Operators only receive the water and we process and distribute it. But we will try to fix the supply as soon as possible,” she said.