River-polluting firms to face the music

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

The Tangerang Regency Environmental Agency has alleged that industrial firms in Tangerang regency and Tangerang municipality are dumping untreated liquid waste into rivers.

Agency head Deden Sugandhi said on Wednesday the waste was usually dumped before dawn by the factories' security guards.

He said officers from his agency arrested early Monday a security guard at a factory in Balaraja who was caught disposing of liquid waste into the Ciracab River, which passes near the industrial zones in the Balaraja, Cikupa and Pasar Kemis districts. Deden refused to identify the firm, saying the agency was still preparing to bring the case to court.

During a recent operation by the agency involving at least 210 factories, only 60 were found to have liquid waste treatment facilities, although the quality of the facilities remain in question. Fifty other factories did not have the necessary liquid waste treatment equipment, and the other 100 factories only produced solid waste.

The Jakarta Post observed that the water of the Ciracab River was blackish and foul smelling.

Farmers in Sukadiri district, which abuts the river, used to depend on water from the Ciracab to irrigate their rice fields but can no longer use the water because of the pollution.

"Residents living along the riverbank are bothered by the odor but can't do anything about it," said Kuswali, a local ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver.

The Cisadane river, which also passes through Tangerang, is also polluted, though not as severely as the Ciracab.

Deden complained that the industrial firms were playing a game of cat and mouse with the agency in dumping their liquid waste into the two rivers.

"Many factories dispose of their liquid waste through pipelines at dawn so that we can't see what they are doing.

"Security guards are ordered to open the pipelines at dawn. It is impossible that they are doing this on their own, so they must have been ordered," he said.

Deden said factory officials consistently denied any knowledge of liquid waste being dumped into rivers, and dismissed the accusation that security guards were acting on their orders.