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