How Coca-Cola Helps Medan’s Low-Income Communities to Get Clean Water

Jakarta. Beverage giant Coca-Cola through its charitable foundations announced on Thursday that it had taken part in a Master Meter system program to help improve clean water access for the low-income communities (MBR) living in Medan, North Sumatra.

The Master Meter is a communal water system, which helps connect the pipeline connections of Medan’s regional drinking water company PDAM Tirtanadi to those of the unreachable households in informal settlements. The local community-based organizations (KSM) will be in charge of maintaining the water supply system and routine fees, among others. 

The Master Meter program in Medan receives full funding from the soft drink producer’s philanthropic arm, The Coca-Cola Foundation. The initiative currently focuses on helping out the communities in Besar and Rengas Pulau subdistricts. 

“We have successfully established 6 units Master Meters to provide clean water access via a pipeline network system for around 2,000 low-income communities or about 400 households,” Coca-Cola Foundation Indonesia chief executive Triyono Prijosoesilo told a virtual conference on Thursday.

“Hopefully, this facility can help enhance the community's water resilience by providing clean water piping solutions, as well as to improve their living standards,” Triyono said.

According to Triyono, the Master Meter initiative aligns with Coca-Cola’s goal of restoring water back to nature and community equal to the amount of water used in its products and production process.

“For Coca-Cola, responsible water management is a must and a top priority in doing business,” Triyono said. “In Indonesia, we have restored about 160 percent of our water back to nature and community in 2020,” he added.

Coca-Cola Foundation Indonesia and The Coca-Cola Foundation are not alone in their mission to improve Medan’s clean water access. The philanthropy joins forces with USAID IUWASH PLUS. As well as PDAM Tirtanadi, Arta Jaya Association (Perkumpulan Arta Jaya), and local communities. 

“Poor access to clean water and proper sanitation has become our common concern. [...] Because it has a significant impact on health, particularly for the low-income communities living in urban areas,” Triyono said.

Medan is still far from meeting its clean water demand, thus making this program a great boon to the city. According to PDAM Tirtanadi director Kabir Bedi, Medan’s clean water demand reaches 11,000 liters per second.

“Our current production stands at around 7,200 liters per second, [...] meaning that we are still short of 3,800 liters per second,” Kabir told the same conference.