New bylaw may worsen Jakarta pollution
New bylaw may worsen Jakarta pollution
Multa Fidrus, Tangerang
An environmentalist raised concerns that a new bylaw, which was
just enforced earlier this month, might worsen river pollution as
it apparently disregarded control of the disposal of liquid waste
produced by hospitals.
The Urban Environmental Studies Forum (Forklip) coordinator
Karya Ersada said on Wednesday that there had not yet been an
assessment study on the danger of the hospitals' liquid waste.
"Unlike factories and hotels, which have tightly controlled
waste treatment facilities, hospitals produce more toxic liquid
waste containing chemical substances, microbiotic and radioactive
substances," Ersada told The Jakarta Post.
It was not until 1999 that hospitals were made to report where
they dumped their waste, he added.
Ersada is a member of a team formed by the Office of the State
Minister of Environment whose task it is to look into the
implementation of Bylaw No. 8/2003 on permits given to factories,
hotels and hospitals to dispose of their liquid waste in rivers.
The bylaw also mentions that Tangerang General Hospital, Usada
Insani Hospital, Sitanala Leprosy Hospital, Makna Hospital and
Sari Asih Hospital must immediately arrange for the permits with
the Tangerang Environment Agency.
"It contradicted the state minister's Decree No. 52/1995 that
stipulates tight control on hospital liquid waste," Ersada added.
He further criticized the Tangerang Environment Agency for
having failed to carry out its supervisory and controlling
functions against environmental damage as it was focusing too
much on increasing the administration's revenue from the permit
fees.
Meanwhile, head of the environmental impact control department
at the agency, M. Arun, said that the municipality administration
would revoke the hospitals' operational permits if the management
failed to apply for the disposal permit before the deadline, to
be designated later by the administration.
Separately, an official at the Banten provincial Environmental
and Energy Agency said that polluted rivers in Tangerang and
Serang regencies as well as Cilegon municipality had killed off
some 60 percent of the indigenous flora and fauna in the northern
part of the province.
Achmad Basyarie, head of maritime life research department at
the agency, said sea water was now polluted with industrial
waste.
"If there isn't much better control against dumping into
rivers by industrial firms, I'm sure that all life in this are of
the sea will be gone in a very short time," he asserted.
He added that a recent survey by the agency showed that
continuous exploitation of the coral reefs by locals had further
devastated the ecosystem.