Electricity and water in Jakarta

The kids had a bonus half day holiday yesterday; they were most impressed!

The electricity system is being upgraded in the schools suburb, supposedly after hours only though.

The power in Jakarta goes on and off frequently, I teach most of my classes in the library (no windows to out side) which loses its lights the most. The kids love it as they get a minute or two of rest time in the dark.

Yesterday the power went out at 9.45am and wasn't expected to get turned back on until after 4pm, so school was canceled yippee!

The main problem with the power being off, besides the heat, is that there is no water.
Water doesn't often come in pipes in Jakarta. Most of the cities water is well/bore water pumped up from underground. No electricity equals no pump and no water or flushing toilets.


I have reasoned that this is why the upstairs bathrooms smell by the end of the day. There is no chlorine in the water, it is pure fresh (well.....maybe contaminated by pollution and septic run off) water and in the heat it turns into a stinky gloop very similar to the water in a vase after a week with wilted flowers. The kids now flush all the toilets ( we have 6!!!!!!) when they get home from school as well as run the taps to refresh the s bends.

This leads me to a very important tip for people looking for homes in Jakarta.......
Live at the top of a hill, never at the bottom.
All, I repeat ALL, water used in the house except the toilet, goes straight out to the open drain/ditch that runs along the road. Can you imagine the germs and smell that a day in the heat would do to the dish washing water, or .........well I will leave it to your imagination.

I haven't been able to work out what type of system this house uses for toilet waste. When I ask everyone points to under the driveway, I hope it is decent, as our water comes from under the driveway too............ Which is why we all clean our teeth, cook etc with bottled water.