City admits violations at Cilincing dump
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration admitted for the first time that it has violated the environmental regulations by openly dumping some of the capital's 6,000 tons of daily waste on swampy land at the temporary dump in Cilincing, North Jakarta.
The city spokesman Muhayat said on Monday that the administration has failed to comply with the existing procedures and later damaged the environment around the 15-hectare dump.
"We just dumped our waste there because it was an emergency to overcome the possible waste crisis in the city. We did not prepare the land in accordance with the procedures and regulations," he said.
The administration decided to use the temporary dump after it closed down the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi municipality on Jan. 4. Jakarta has been using Bantar Gebang to dump its waste since 1986.
Governor Sutiyoso had ordered the closure of Cilincing dump following the reopening of Bantar Gebang on Jan. 27. However, the Cilincing dump has already polluted nearby fish ponds and killed thousands of fish and shrimp in the area. Fish farmers demanded the administration to pay Rp 340 million (US$40,476) in compensation for their losses as they will not be able to use their farms for the next five years.
Muhayat said that the administration was currently implementing the rehabilitation process on Cilincing dump which involved personnel from the sanitation, fishery and public works agencies.
"Assistant to the city secretary for development affairs (IGKG Suena) will monitor the day-to-day process," he said.
The sanitation agency head Selamat Limbong said last week that the rehabilitation process would take two months. The administration has been building concrete blocks as a wall around the dump to prevent further pollution to the surrounding areas.
According to Limbong, his agency would compress the garbage and then cover it with soil as part of the rehabilitation process.
Separately, the Office of the State Minister of the Environment told a media gathering that the Cilincing dump had been polluted by hazardous substances including lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn) and cyanide from liquid waste seeping from the huge pile of garbage at the dump.
"We call on the administration to design an action plan to rehabilitate the dump as soon as possible so that we can monitor the progress of the rehabilitation," said Tanwir Yazid Mukawi, an official from a division overseeing pollutions at the minister's office.
According to Tanwir, the liquid waste could spread and pollute the surrounding areas as it could run along with the rain water.
"The rainy season could accelerate the environmental damages caused by the liquid waste."
The result of the tests show that the highly toxic cyanide and hazardous heavy metal compounds of lead and mercury were contained in the water of the fish farms around the dump.
Heavy metals can severely affect human health and it can also be fatal not only to humans but also vegetations and animals.