Pollution of Cisadane River continues
Multa Fidrus, Tangerang
"I still remember when the water in the Cisadane River was very clean -- I could clearly see fish swimming around," 65-year-old Mahudi, a resident of Pasar Baru subdistrict, said as he reminisced about his childhood.
The man, who has 10 grandchildren, said he was still able to see the bottom of the seven-meter-deep river back then and swim near the Pintu Sepuluh dam, which was only 200 meters away from his parents' home.
"Look at the river now -- no one can see the bottom of it, despite being only about two meters deep. The water is filthy because of the silt. It's also dirty, smelly and heavily polluted," he complained.
The country's development over the past three decades has meant that many industrial firms have sprung up along the riverbanks. These firms are alleged to be the most serious polluters of the river, and are suspected of continuously dumping their liquid waste directly into the water course.
However, the polluted river has been the main source of water for Tangerang regency and municipality water suppliers, namely PDAM Tirta Kerta Raharja and PDAM Tirta Dharma. Both operators take and process the polluted water to serve the daily needs of their 500,000 customers.
That figure excludes thousands of locals living along the riverbanks who also use the river water for their daily needs -- for washing, bathing and even cooking, the latter without proper sterilization beforehand.
PDAM Tirta Kerta Raharja spokesman Anda Suhanda told The Jakarta Post recently that the pollution in the river water, allegedly attributable to industrial liquid waste, had given rise to huge water processing costs to render the water safe for use by customers.
The company produces an average 4,500 liters of clean water per second. The water is distributed daily, via a piped network, to around 110,000 houses across Tangerang regency and municipality, and the western part of Jakarta.
Meanwhile, PDAM Tirta Dharma spokesman Indra Wawan said the latest water sample, which was taken from the river and examined by a Sucofindo surveyor, indicated that the water contained 2.97 milligrams (mg) of oil and grease, 1.44 mg of ammonia, 0.5 mg of manganese, 10.5 mg of nitrate, 1.16 mg of iron and 0.001 mg of mercury per liter.
He said all the chemical substances greatly exceeded the limits set out in Government Regulation No. 82/2001. The regulation stipulates that each substance contained in the water is limited to only 0.3 mg per liter.
"Of all these substances, mercury is the most dangerous. It cannot be broken down in the human body at all. If someone continues to consume the water, the mercury level inside his body will also continue to accumulate. In the end, it will have an impact on brain function," he said.
Both Anda and Indra blamed officials at the regency and the municipality environmental agencies for their failure to control better the illegal dumping of liquid waste into the river.
Despite the possible danger for customers, the polluted water had also damaged the environment, as Sukawali village head Chaerudin complained.
"The polluted river water has also killed fish in ponds, the area of which extends to around 200 hectares," he told the Post.
However, regency and municipality environmental agency heads Deden Sugandhi and M. Akip denied accusations that they had failed to control the illegal dumping of waste into the river.
"It's impossible for us to monitor hundreds of industrial firms that allegedly dump their liquid waste into the river at night," Deden said, adding that they lacked manpower and equipment.
In a recent operation by the agency involving at least 210 industrial firms, only 60 were found to have liquid waste treatment facilities, although the quality of the facilities was questionable. Fifty others did not have the necessary liquid waste treatment equipment and the other 100 produced only solid waste.