Breathing fresh air is difficult sometimes in Bali
Breathing fresh air is difficult sometimes in Bali
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Denpasar
Bali is celebrated for its natural beauty, yet, in recent years,
a high number of people here have been treated for respiratory
problems, which are reportedly caused by increasing air pollution
on the island.
Pollution watchdog the Foundation of Focus on Bali in a report
based on medical records from Sanglah public hospital here, said
that air pollution in Bali, particularly in Denpasar, needed to
be seriously addressed.
Foundation director Yuyun Ismawati, told a seminar here that
the number of patients that suffered respiratory problems as a
result of air pollution stood at around 6,000 a year from 2001 to
2003.
In 2001, 6,364 people with respiratory problems were treated
at the hospital. Manager of the hospital's medical records I
Nengah Semadi, said patients attended the hospital two or three
times on average for treatment.
"Of that number, 129 patients were hospitalized," she said.
The following year, new cases of respiratory problems rose to
7,549, with 104 patients needing to stay in hospital.
The number of new patients with respiratory problems dropped
slightly to 6,446 in 2003, with 108 patients admitted.
Yuyun said motorized vehicles and garbage incineration were
mostly to blame for air pollution, but vehicles were the greatest
contributor.
She further said that the number of vehicles on the streets
should be regulated.
Data at the Bali Police's vehicle registration office shows
that there are 1,158,057 motorized vehicles on the island.
"About 628,929 of those are registered in Denpasar," the Bali
Police's director of traffic Snr. Com. Soenardi said.
According to Agus Saefudin, head of emission standard
evaluation at the Ministry of the Environment, a vehicle, whether
it is a sedan, a truck or a bus, emits a total of 7.2 tons of
carbon monoxide and 0.88 tons of hydro carbon a year.
"That is based on the standard calculation, in accordance with
the limit set by the government, and provided the vehicle is well
maintained," Agus said.
It is estimated that 1.25 million tons of carbon monoxide is
emitted yearly by vehicles on Denpasar's roads.
The air is also polluted by 553 thousand tons of hydro carbon
released yearly.
"Compared with (the condition of vehicles in) Greater Jakarta,
where random emission tests were conducted last year, the
condition of vehicles in Bali or Denpasar is not much different,"
Agus said.
Yuyun warned that the increasing number of vehicles from year
to year was also becoming a serious problem.
In fact, she said, it has already posed an imminent threat to
the health of 561,800 residents of Denpasar.
Yuyun said, however, the fact that Bali is an island stands in
its favor, as coastal winds blow away much of the pollution.
She said in other areas, such as Bandung in West Java, which is
located in a basin, pollution levels could be higher.
"But I'm not saying that for sure as we would need to conduct
research to prove it," Yuyun said.
What is certain, she said, is that clean air could become
something that people used to associate with Bali, a distant,
albeit fond, memory.