For the past 25 years, 50-something Sachid, an operator at the West Setiabudi water reservoir in South Jakarta, has had to work 24 hours a day, five days a week. He never complains.

With a monthly paycheck of Rp 1.5 million (US$160), the father of five says the meager pay is not his main concern. What annoys him is how his efforts to maintain the reservoir have gone unnoticed by the city's public works agency.

"If any of the machines at the reservoir breaks down, it take weeks — even months — before anyone from the agency comes down here to fix it," Sachid said Saturday.

On this day, Sachid recounted his story to a group of city residents visiting the reservoir as part of a half-day tour of city's water resources.

Organized by the Jakarta Green Map community, Saturday's tour brought dozens of participants to the West Setiabudi reservoir and a 6-hectare lake in Ragunan Zoo, also in South Jakarta.

At both places, the tour participants not only learned about the history of the sites, but also the role they played in the water management system of the communities.

The Setiabudi reservoir, Sachid said, was built in the mid-1970s. It takes in wastewater and rainwater from Menteng and Kuningan, thereby preventing flooding these two upscale residential and commercial areas, respectively, particularly during the wet season.

In 2004, the government installed three machines at the reservoir to filter out solid trash and channel the water into the Ciliwung River.

Since 2007, though, two of the machines, along with the lone backup power generator, have broken down, forcing the operators to use the last machine very carefully.

"When the machine begins making a cracking sound, we turn it off immediately then start it up again later," Sachid said, much to the surprise of the tour participants.

After touring the reservoir, the group then took a Transjakarta bus to Ragunan Lake, the biggest lake at the eponymous zoo.

On the walk to the lake, the tour guides pointed out several tree species that were once common in Jakarta but had since disappeared due to rapid land and lake conversion.

After listening to several presentations about Ragunan Lake and the city's water management system, the group ended the tour with lunch.

Jakarta Green Map coordinator Nirwono Joga said the community held the tour to educate the public about the importance of conserving lakes and reservoirs in the city.

"Most people think of the water management system as just something that goes on in the background," he said.

"By getting more and more people to look closely at that background, we hope to make them realize and understand why it's crucial to conserve water catchment areas like reservoirs and lakes."

The schedule for the community's tours is available at greenmap.co.id or through the mailing list greenmapjakarta@yahoogroups.com.

Tour participant Rina Purwaningsih said she was glad she had learned about water management.

A UNESCO staffer and resident of Cilandak, South Jakarta, Rina said the tour was a rare chance to explore the inner workings of the city's water management system.

Hasyim Widhiarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta