River trash blamed on city agency

River trash blamed on city agency

JAKARTA (JP): People living along the city's riverbanks blamed
refuse collectors on Friday for the accumulation of garbage in
the rivers and for the continuing floods.

They said they dumped their waste into the rivers because the
refuse collectors repeatedly skipped their houses, leaving them
to deal with their garbage on their own.

"Throwing garbage into the river is our only choice, because
the city's sanitation agency services are so poor," said Iswadi,
a resident who lives close to the Ciliwung river in Kampung
Melayu subdistrict, East Jakarta.

He said the clean river campaign should not be delegated to
the city's residents, as it also needs the city administration's
assistance.

"If the city administration fails to provide a service, I
think every river will always be in a bad condition.

"The sanitation agency does not serve the riverside dwellers,
although each of us pays Rp 1,500 (21 US cents) per month for
sanitation services," he said.

He said they had taken the initiative to bring their garbage
to a nearby refuse collection center.

"But it proved useless because the agency's refuse collectors
only collected our garbage once a week.

"What happened was that a bad smell spread to the area," he
said.

Neneng Sariani, who lives near the Keroncong riverbanks in
Menteng subdistrict, Central Jakarta, said all inhabitants were
required to pay a sanitation fee of Rp 2,000 per month.

"But refuse trucks are only available in the neighboring
district which is too far away from here.

"If we want to have our garbage collected, we have to carry it
there. It is too complicated so we just throw the waste into the
river," she said.

Neneng said she could understand if the refuse trucks or carts
could not enter the area as the houses are situated overlooking
the river.

The 21-year-old housewife said the river was cleaned once a
week, but those who did the cleaning were local residents who
worked without payment. "I don't know where the money goes," she
said.

She said the Keroncong river had been in bad condition for a
long time. The water is unmoving and all the families' liquid
waste drains into the river.

"The water only flows if the nearby Manggarai floodgate is
opened, which is usually only during the rainy season," she said.

As a consequence, the stagnant Keroncong river was also prone
to flooding and was a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Data at the City Health Agency showed that from January until
Nov. 9 2,812 city residents were hit by dengue fever, 40 of whom
had died. During the same period last year the figure reached
14,912 people.

Another Keroncong riverside inhabitant, Kartini, said the
river's poor condition would spread dengue fever in the
community.

"What else can we do? We're just poor families who can not
afford better sanitation," she said. (ind)