Flowers survive amid thrash

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post/Bogor

The beauty of Bulltongue Arrowhead (Sagittaria Lancifolia), a perennial herb with lance-shaped leaves and white flowers with three petals, which is commonly found in Florida and Puerto Rico, has attracted many visitors to the Bogor Botanical Gardens.

But, many visitors who come to see the flower throw plastic bottles into a nearby pond.

The poor condition of the Sagittaria pond -- one of five ponds in the vicinity of the gardens on Jl. Putri Astrid, has prompted the gardens management to clean up the area.

Wawan, an employee of the gardens' collection division, said that besides cleaning up the pond, workers had also changed its water source.

"We used to fill the pond using water from Ciliwung River. But now, we will pump the water from Katulampa dam's irrigation channel," he said.

He explained that Ciliwung River had been polluted by household waste and rubbish from traditional markets.

In 2002, the gardens management and the then Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure built an eight-kilometer irrigation channel from Katulampa dam. The waterway was intended to meet the need to water collectible plants, particularly orchids.