Companies pollute river

Companies pollute river

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Ninety percent of the wastes dumped into
the Belumai River, in Tanjung Morawa subdistrict, Deli Serdang
district in the province of North Sumatra come from three
companies, a survey said.

The remaining 10 percent comes from other industries and
people living along the riverbanks, the head of a project
measuring river pollution levels, HWK Berghuis, told provincial
government officials and deputy chief of the Environmental
Management Board (Bapedal) Nabiel Makarim Monday.

Berghuis was quoted by Antara as saying water samples from the
upper and lower portions of the river were tested between July
and October last year.

He said the three companies, PT Sari Morawa and PT Gelanggang
Ria, both chopstick producers, and PT Bebasari Tekstil,
respectively dumped 321 kg, 69 kg and 290 kg of waste with high
bio-chemical oxygen demand (BOD) as well as wastes containing
high levels of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia.

The companies have a maximum disposal respectively of 419 kg,
167 kg and 470 kg of wastes per day, he added.

He said wastes dumped by residents contained many kinds of
bacteria, including the E-Coli.

Meanwhile, Amiruddin Ritonga of the North Sumatra
administration said the survey was measuring the river's
pollution levels because many people continued to use the water.

He said the administration would seek help in ridding the
river of wastes for the sake of the 20,000 people living along
its banks.

The survey was conducted by the Dutch company MH Nederland BV
and the Indonesian company PT Swadesi Medan, in cooperation with
the North Sumatra administration. (swe)