Household, chemical waste pollutes rivers

Household, chemical waste pollutes rivers

JAKARTA (JP): Unlike Venice that is renowned for its clean
rivers, here we only see dirty rivers, some of which even give
off a putrid stench.

All of the 13 rivers in the capital city are currently in an
appalling condition. They are polluted by waste from households
and factories, an environmental official said.

"You can see the river pollution just by looking at the color
of its water," said Aboeprajitno Aboejuwono, the head of the
city's environmental impact management agency (Bapedalda),
referring to the dark, murky water of the rivers.

The river pollution is a result of a combination of both
organic and chemical waste dumped into the rivers. The organic
waste, or biodegradable waste is mostly from households, while
chemical waste, or nonbiodegradable waste is contributed by
factories.

Aboejuwono blamed household waste as the major cause of the
organic pollution and industrial waste as the main cause of
chemical pollution.

Each year some 14,000 cubic meters of household waste is
dumped into the city's rivers. Only a part of it is carried out
to the sea.

People living along the riversides contribute a large portion
of the household waste. They use the rivers as though they were
public garbage dumps or toilets.

Sumini, who lives by the Ciliwung river in Manggarai area,
Central Jakarta, admitted that she and her neighbors used the
river as a dumping site for their household waste.

"Dumping garbage into the river is free. Besides, it will be
carried out to sea," she told The Jakarta Post, adding that there
is no garbage dumping site in the neighborhood.

Sumini's neighbor, Albert, said that the people there usually
threw their garbage on the riverbanks as well. "It's common
here," he remarked.

However, the people in the neighborhood do not use the river
for their daily needs such as for bathing or cooking as it is too
dirty.

Meanwhile, data shows that the waste from industrial companies
contributes up to 90 percent of river pollution in Jakarta. The
factories dump more than 900,000 cubic meters of waste into the
rivers each year.

Most of the factories still dump their industrial waste
directly into the rivers without processing it first, while some
others possess waste recycling facilities.

Bapedalda has instructed that all factories must be equipped
with their own waste processing plant. But only big factories can
afford to buy such equipment since it is relatively expensive,
Aboejuwono said.

He noted that the city administration has taken strict action
against some factories which failed to manage their chemical
waste. He cited an example of a company named Trebor, whose
operation permit was suspended in 1995 due to its violation of
the waste regulation. The following year, after it had complied
with the requirements, the government allowed the company to
resume operation.

He said that to solve the city's river pollution problem,
Bapedalda has developed the Clean River Program (Prokasih) since
the early 1990s.

Free

Aboejuwono claimed that several rivers are now free of
household garbage, not due to increasing public environmental
awareness, but because the authorities and also scavengers,
managed to clear the waste. But he admitted his office still
faced difficulties in cleaning up chemical waste from the rivers.

"This is a long term program; the results are not instant," he
remarked.

Aboejuwono said that Bapedalda monitored liquid waste from the
factories regularly by checking their waste processing equipment
each year.

He confessed that it was more difficult to ask residents not
to dump their household waste into the rivers or on the
riverbanks.

"It is not easy to change people's habits," he concluded.

But he said his office would continue to pursue such efforts.
Currently, the agency is formulating a regulation requiring all
people living alongside the rivers to build their houses facing
the rivers. (04)