Medan's river 'heavely polluted'

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

Industrial and household waste has heavily polluted all five rivers that flow through Medan, North Sumatra, degrading the quality of the water, say local environment officials.

"The finding is based on a survey conducted last year in 27 spots along those rivers," said Hakimil Nasution, the head of North Sumatra Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedalda).

The five in question are the Deli, Belawan, Belumai, Asahan and Merbau Rivers.

"The pollution is extremely bad and extremely harmful to health as many people rely on the contaminated rivers for household needs," Hakimil told The Jakarta Post.

Rosdiana Simarmata, a researcher with the agency, said the pollution came from people living along riverbanks who threw their household waste into the rivers.

Household waste comprised 70 percent of the total waste dumped into the five rivers, while the remaining 30 percent came from industries in Medan, she added.

She warned that the growing population in Medan meant the pollution was a virtual time bomb for city residents.

"Almost 100,000 people are currently living along the banks of the Deli River alone," Rosdiana said.

Hakimil further said the pollution in the five rivers was beyond a tolerable level.

The survey showed that the level of the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) in the five rivers, reached between 5.60 and 12 milligrams per liter of water, while the tolerable level is less than two milligram per liter water, he said.

Also, the level of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) in the rivers was recorded at between 11.2 and 31 milligrams per liter of water, while the level was supposed to be less than 10 milligrams per liter, Hakimil added.

He said water turbidity in the rivers was between 18 and 110 milligrams per liter, surpassing the maximum level of 50 milligrams per liter.

Hakimil said that the pollution must be stopped or reduced because it would pose dangers for local villagers living along the riverbanks. They usually used the rivers for daily household purposes, including bathing and washing.

Hakimil said the pollution also threatened the fish in the rivers.

He said that his office had taken measures to reduce the level of pollution, including seminars aimed at raising the awareness of local people and industries, to discourage them from dumping waste into the rivers.

"If these measures are not effective, we will file a lawsuit immediately against those polluters, most notably big industries," he warned.