Radioactive waste pollutes Jakarta's rivers: Police

Radioactive waste pollutes Jakarta's rivers: Police

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Radioactive and other live-threatening materials have
contaminated most rivers in Jakarta and West Java provinces, the
police said on Monday.

Police Forensic Laboratory Chief Brig. Gen. Dudon Satyaputra
said the police's recent tests on rivers across the two
provinces, showed the levels of heavy metals and radioactive
waste exceeded the standards set by regulations.

"We have suspicion that factories and hospitals polluted these
rivers because we know that they dump a huge amount of chemicals
and radioactive materials. We don't know for sure where they have
disposed of their waste so far," said Dudon.

Dudon did not specify how serious the pollution problem was
and what kinds of materials, both chemical and radioactive, had
contaminated the rivers.

Dudon said the police considered similar tests on rivers
outside the two provinces where factories and hospitals were
located.

"The disposal of waste into rivers does not just happen in
Jakarta and West Java. We believe this trend is commonplace
nationwide so we will launch an investigation across the country
soon," said Dudon.

Several hospitals, however, said their waste disposal
facilities had been given a clean bill of health from the Jakarta
administration.

Law No. 23/1997 on the environment, Governmental Decree No.
82/2001 on water management and water contamination control ban
the disposal of toxic waste into the environment. Derivative
regulations have been enforced by provincial governments through
bylaws.

However, in Jakarta, at least 1,700 industries are known to
have dumped their waste into the 13 rivers that run across the
city while dozens of hospitals throw their waste into the rivers,
the provincial environment agency said.

An official at the Banten provincial Environmental and Energy
Agency said recently polluted rivers in Tangerang and Serang
regencies as well as Cilegon municipality had killed some 60
percent of indigenous flora and fauna in the northern part of the
province.

Dudon said the police would cooperate with the Atomic
Controlling Board (Bapetan) in conducting random check on waste
management applied by hospitals and industries across the country
without prior notification in a bid to find the real figure of
the contamination.

Chandrawati Cahyani, the assistant deputy minister for natural
sciences at the Office of the State Minister for Research and
Technology said industries and hospitals in the country had
disposed of many heavy metals, including mercury, cadmium, and
arsenic, as well as radioactive materials, including phorium and
radium, to the environment.

"I don't know if they throw their waste into the rivers but
these are all very dangerous chemicals that could harm human
beings either in a short or long period," said Chandrawati.

She said the materials could cause cancer, genetic mutation,
reproduction dysfunctions, and many other diseases to residents
who consume the water.

Ministerial Decree No. 51/2004 on water pollution standard
issued by the Office of the Minister of Environment sets the
maximum levels of mercury, lead, cadmium and copper in seawater
at 0.001 mg/L, 0.008 mg/L, 0.001 mg/L, and 0.001 mg/L
respectively.