In short. Drink and cook with water from a gallon: a sealed factory gallon of 19 litres is delivered to your home, and a gallon refilled at a depot is cheaper but safe only at a depot with a sanitation service certificate. Tap water is technical water: most people use it for brushing teeth, not for drinking. Cooking gas is a cylinder: the green 3 kg one is subsidised and since 1 January 2024 is sold only to people registered with a KTP and family card, and registration is not available to a foreigner; the pink Bright Gas 5.5 or 12 kg is sold to everyone, and Pertamina delivers it to your home on an order in MyPertamina or by phone 135. If the water in the house has stopped, first check the electricity and the pump, then the tank on the roof.
Which water to drink. Tap and well water in Bali is not drinkable: the minimum drinking water standard under Ministry of Health regulation No. 2 of 2023 is zero E. coli and coliforms in a sample, and the water supply does not meet that standard. So water for drinking, ice, coffee and cooking is a gallon, a 19-litre plastic bottle for a dispenser. Two kinds:
- A factory gallon with a sealed cap: the factory bottles the water under its own brand, the cap has a seal, the price is higher. It is brought from a minimarket, a warung or by WhatsApp from a delivery person; the empty gallon is taken in exchange, and a deposit is charged for the first one.
- A gallon from a refill depot: the depot (depot air minum isi ulang) filters well or tap water and fills your container. Ministry of Health regulation No. 43 of 2014 requires the depot to have a sanitation certificate from the regency service, issued after an inspection and water analysis and renewed every three years, and also to rinse the container for at least ten seconds and not to keep a filled gallon for more than a day. The certificate should hang on the depot wall, so ask for the "sertifikat laik higiene sanitasi". If there is no certificate or the depot looks dirty, take a factory one.
Wash the dispenser once a month, wipe the neck of the gallon before putting it on, and if stomach trouble started after changing water, follow the guide to food poisoning. A reverse osmosis filter under the sink settles the question for good, but it makes sense to put one in a rented villa only from six months.
Tap water: where it comes from and why it disappears. The villa takes water from a well or the local water supply, a pump lifts it to a tank on the roof, and from there it flows by gravity or through a second pump. So water disappears in three cases:
- The electricity ran out: the pump is off, and the tank empties within a day. Check the meter; see the guide to electricity.
- The pump broke or overheated: there is power, no water, and the pump hums or is silent. This is for the owner, do not touch it yourself.
- In the dry season the well runs low, and the water supply works on a schedule: the owner knows the schedule, ask in advance.
Salty or yellow tap water near the sea is normal for coastal wells; it is fine for laundry and showers but not for drinking. The roof tank is washed once a year, and if the shower smells, it is a reason to remind the owner. What to check in the house before moving in is in the guide to checking a villa.
Gas: three colours of cylinders. In the kitchen stands a cylinder, with a hose and regulator to the stove:
- Green 3 kg, subsidised. By the Ministry of Energy press release of 1 January 2024 it is sold only to people from the state database: households, micro-businesses, fishermen and farmers, registered at an official point of sale (pangkalan) with a KTP ID and a KK family card. A foreigner does not have these documents, so by the rules a green cylinder is not for them. In practice it stands in almost every rented villa: the owner or staff buy it, and that is their arrangement with the state, not yours. We do not advise buying it yourself from a reseller at a warung: Pertamina asks to take gas only at a pangkalan, and in inspections the seller and buyer end up as the ones at fault.
- Pink Bright Gas 5.5 kg and 12 kg, not subsidised. Sold to everyone, in minimarkets, from Pertamina agents and at some filling stations. The first time you buy the cylinder itself plus the gas, after that you swap the empty for a full one.
- Blue 12 kg of the old type: the same as the pink one, found less often.
If the villa is on you and the gas has run out, the simplest way is Pertamina Delivery Service: an order in the MyPertamina app or by phone 135, and by the Pertamina page, for an order before 14:00 Jakarta time the nearest agent delivers the same day. Prices for the cylinder and refill change, so look in the app.
Gas safety. If you smell gas in the kitchen: do not switch on the light or the stove, open windows and doors, close the valve on the regulator, and leave. The hose and regulator should carry an SNI mark, and be replaced by the date on the mark; a leak is looked for with soapy water on the joints, and bubbles mean a leak. The cylinder stands upright, in shade, not next to the stove. Moving the cylinder into a stuffy cupboard under the sink without ventilation is a bad idea: gas is heavier than air and collects low. Emergency numbers are in a separate guide.
What the rent includes and what is yours. In a long rental, tap water and gas are usually on the tenant, and electricity by meter too: who pays for what is written in the contract, with a sample of questions in the guide to monthly rental. Drinking gallons are always yours. The dispenser, gas hose and regulator come with the villa: if they are missing or old, ask for a replacement before moving in.
Our advice. On the first day find a factory gallon delivery person nearby, a warung will give you a WhatsApp number: one call, and the water stands at your door in half an hour. Do not touch the gas while it lasts, but ask the owner who changes it and where the spare cylinder is. And check that the roof tank fills when the pump hums: then you will understand why the water went before you call the owner.
What this means for you. You drink from a gallon with a factory seal or from a depot with a certificate, you wash and do laundry with tap water, and gas is changed by the owner or you order a pink Bright Gas through MyPertamina and 135. The green subsidised cylinder is by law not for foreigners, and there is no need to argue about it with the seller: the rule is written in the Ministry of Energy press release of 1 January 2024.