There is a neighbourhood in North Jakarta that stretches from a fish market in the south, and then around the Jakarta Bay to a waduk (man-made lake) in the north. It sits between the West Canal and the Muara Angke River. But it is not the kind of waterfront property that sets Jakarta’s hungry developers drooling.

This is RT 20, or what the residents here laughingly refer to as "TPAA" (Tempat Penbuang Ahir Air), literally, "the place where the last water is dumped". The people of RT 20 live in the sewage that comes downstream from Bogor and Depok and on to the Jakarta megacity, now over 12 million strong. The capital is a city without a sewage system, so the river itself serves the purpose. During high tides, this year's uncommonly heavy rains and slowly rising sea levels, believed to be linked to rising global temperatures, are compounding problems caused by Jakarta's poor infra-structure and development. Garbage flows downstream into the neighbourhood, where it collects under kampungs (a Malay hamlet or village) on stilts and floods homes. The people here are sometimes up to their knees - even chests - in it.