Bekasi seeks cause of dead fish

Bekasi seeks cause of dead fish

BEKASI: The Bekasi Council urged the Environmental Management
Agency to investigate the death of thousands of fish in Kali
Bekasi river since Sunday, suspecting untreated industrial waste
had polluted the river.

"The agency has to move fast," councillor Heri Koswara was
quoted as saying by Antara on Tuesday, "don't wait until one
resident becomes a victim of water pollution."

Councillor Muhammad Hasyim Affandi from the council's
Commission B that oversees the environment said that they would
ask the agency to submit a report on the cause of the phenomenon.

"It first happened a few months ago at every low tide, we
could easily pick up thousands of dying fish in the river," said
Muksin, 45, a resident of Margahayu subdistrict. "I don't know
what caused it (the death), but they are less tasty compared to
fresh ones."

Benny Tunggul from the Environment Community Union (ECU) said
that there should be an investigation into whether the textile
and paper factories located along the river are channeling
untreated industrial waste into the river or that humidity has
increased the temperature of the water and killed the fish. -- JP