Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan 68/2016 (Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Nomor P.68/MENLHK-SETJEN/2016 tentang Baku Mutu Air Limbah Domestik) was an Indonesian ministerial regulation that set the national effluent quality standard for domestic wastewater. It was signed by the Minister of Environment and Forestry on 9 August 2016 and took effect on its promulgation on 2 September 2016.^[1] It was issued to implement Pasal 20 ayat (2) huruf b of Undang-Undang 32/2009 on environmental protection and management, and remained the national domestic standard within wastewater and sanitation regulation in Indonesia until September 2025.^[2][3]

The regulation obliged every business or activity producing domestic wastewater to treat it, set a single table of eight limits for standalone treatment, and prescribed technical and monitoring requirements, among them watertight treatment installations and sewers.^[4][5][6] It also placed on central and regional government the provision of household-scale treatment facilities, and allowed provincial governments to set stricter standards.^[7][8]

It was revoked by Permen LH 11/2025, which took effect on 9 September 2025 and added treatment technology standards to the effluent limits.^[3:1] CRPG's regulatory tracker published three analyses of the 2016 regulation on 26 November 2025, after its revocation.^[9][10][11]

¶ Background

The preamble relies on the statutory mandate of the environment minister to regulate effluent standards and states that domestic wastewater from households and from businesses has the potential to pollute, so that it must be treated before it is discharged.^[2:1] The regulation replaced Keputusan Menteri Negara Lingkungan Hidup 112/2003 on domestic wastewater standards, together with three annexes of Permen LH 5/2014, the general effluent-standards regulation: Lampiran XLIII on hotels, Lampiran XLIV huruf A on health-care facilities and Lampiran XLVI on domestic activities.^[12]

Pasal 2 describes the regulation as a reference for three audiences: provincial governments setting stricter standards; central, provincial and district governments issuing environmental permits, SPPL statements and wastewater discharge permits; and those responsible for domestic wastewater treatment when planning treatment and preparing environmental documents.^[13]

¶ Provisions

¶ Treatment and effluent limits

Pasal 3 required every business or activity producing domestic wastewater to treat it, either on its own (tersendiri) or by combining it with the wastewater of other activities in one system (terintegrasi). Standalone treatment had to meet the limits in Lampiran I, integrated treatment the limits calculated under Lampiran II, and the limits were not to be exceeded at any time.^[4:1]

Lampiran I set a pH range of 6 to 9 and maximum concentrations of 30 mg/L for biochemical oxygen demand, 100 mg/L for chemical oxygen demand, 30 mg/L for total suspended solids, 5 mg/L for oil and grease and 10 mg/L for ammonia, with 3,000 total coliform per 100 mL and a discharge of 100 litres per person per day. A note applies the table to apartment buildings, lodging and dormitories, health-care and educational facilities, offices, commerce, markets, restaurants, meeting halls, recreation areas, settlements, industry, area-wide, settlement and urban treatment plants, ports, airports, railway stations, terminals and prisons.^[6:1] Lampiran II set a mass-balance calculation for integrated plants and required parameters from other activities that the domestic table did not cover to be added to the standard written into the permit, at the strictest level where several activities shared them.^[14]

¶ Technical and monitoring requirements

Pasal 4 required monitoring of compliance and listed technical requirements that monitoring was to secure: all domestic wastewater entering the treatment installation; watertight installations and sewers, so that no wastewater seeped into the environment; separation of wastewater collection from stormwater drainage; no dilution; a designated compliance point with coordinates; and a flow meter at that point.^[5:1] Operators had to keep daily records of the volume processed and of flow and pH, obtain a laboratory analysis at least once a month, and report at least once every three months to the regent or mayor, with copies to the governor and the minister.^[5:2] Pasal 5 required standard operating procedures and an emergency response system, and a report within 24 hours of pollution caused by abnormal conditions.^[15]

An activity unable to treat its own domestic wastewater had to hand it to another party whose business was treatment, and that party needed an environmental permit and a wastewater discharge permit.^[16]

¶ Public facilities and regional standards

Under Pasal 8 central and regional government provided and managed treatment facilities for household-scale domestic wastewater, alone or in cooperation with business entities, and whoever was responsible for those facilities had to hold an environmental permit or SPPL and a discharge permit and meet the Lampiran I limits.^[7:1] The on-site end of that household sector is treated at septic tank regulation in Indonesia.

Pasal 9 to 11 allowed a province to set a stricter regional standard after a scientific study covering the best available treatment technology, the characteristics of the wastewater, the carrying capacity and pollution-load allocation of receiving waters, and the proposed values. District and municipal governments reported annually to the province on wastewater inventories, treatment technology and supervision, and a provincial standard, once set, bound provincial and district governments when issuing permits unless an environmental document justified a stricter one.^[8:1]

¶ Revocation

Permen LH 11/2025, signed on 4 September 2025 and in force from 9 September 2025, revoked the regulation in its Pasal 14.^[3:2] Its replacement kept the obligation to treat and the distinction between standalone and integrated treatment, but differentiated limits by type and volume of wastewater and by the manner of release, and added technology standards; the 2016 regulation had set technical requirements such as watertightness but no technology standard.^[3:3][5:3] The practical effect of the change for on-site systems is discussed at septic tank regulation in Indonesia. The same day's Permen LH 12/2025 on textile effluent uses the 2016 domestic values in the worked example of its integrated-treatment annex.^[17]

¶ See also

• Peraturan Pemerintah 22/2021
• Environmental approval in Indonesia

¶ External links

• Permen LHK No. P.68/MENLHK-SETJEN/2016 (peraturan.go.id)
• CRPG: What Domestic Wastewater Quality Standards Apply Under PERMENLHK 68/2016? (crpg.id, 26 November 2025) (free sign-in required on crpg.id)
• CRPG: Uniform National Domestic Wastewater Standards for Buildings: PERMENLHK 68/2016 (crpg.id, 26 November 2025) (free sign-in required on crpg.id)
• CRPG: What Domestic Wastewater Limits Apply Under PERMENLHK 68/2016? (crpg.id, 26 November 2025) (free sign-in required on crpg.id)

¶ References