SIER now harmful pollutants for surroundings

By Gin Kurniawan

SURABAYA (JP): The time has come to review the presence of the Surabaya Industrial Estate Rungkut (SIER), to even change the location of East Java's largest industrial zone, said a leading business consultant.

"If no further worsening of the city's environment is wanted, the estate must find another place within no more than 10 years," said Kresnayana Yahya, who is also an environment observer, in Surabaya on Saturday.

The statistics' expert expressed concern over the social and environmental impact of SIER's operation. In his view, this estate is one of those that take no heed of public interests and environmental maintenance.

"I wonder why the consultants who designed this estate failed to anticipate the environmental impacts now arising. They even ignored the environment aspect," he pointed out.

Kresnayana described the pollution in Rungkut as an outcome of errors from the beginning and that the zone was not worth the status of an industrial estate because it should have been built integrally with supporting infrastructure.

He was convinced that the pollution in the area resulted not only from factory management mistakes but also from a failure to apply proper environment-management standards.

"How can waste be processed without adequate sites?" he asked.

The over 300-hectare estate is now packed with more than 200 individual and corporate industries, including such major companies as HM Sampurna, Nestle and Unilever, producing a wide variety of daily needs. With at least 6,000 workers, the site now turns out harmful pollutants.

The Rungkut estate has undeniably been contaminated by different kinds of waste from the existing plants. Many people passing the zone wear masks due to the foul air and offensive smell.

This poor air quality can be seen in the air pollutant standard index gauge (ISPU) installed near the estate, which was provided by the Austrian government to monitor the air pollution in the city.

ISPU readings have shown that air pollution in Surabaya, notably around Rungkut, is well above the threshold as determined by the East Java governor in 1998, i.e. 0.26/m3.

The air pollution around Rungkut is also evidenced by data at several public health centers. Lots of people living near the industrial estate suffer from upper respiratory infections owing to poor air quality.

SIER's high pollution indicates that industrial waste is not yet appropriately handled in this zone. According to East Java's Indonesian Environment Forum, industrialization growth in the city is not accompanied by an application of clean environment standards in business operations.

Based on its observations, no industrial profiles in Surabaya have served as examples of environment-friendly factories, so, pollution is worsening.

Other indicators of contamination are the increasing lack of fresh air for the people around Rungkut, and their growing difficulty to get clean underground water.

Ten years ago, local citizens could still use well water for daily use. Now, such water resources are something of a bygone luxury because of waste contamination, and even tap water is of poor quality.

The contamination of Surabaya River by the Rungkut plants is no less hazardous. A study conducted by Ecoton has revealed that the river is filled with toxic industrial waste.

In the dry season, the rate of water flow declines, making the toxic content higher, while the wet season sees dying fish apparently because the relevant companies can dump their waste without being easily noticed.

Despite these facts, the city administration seems to be indifferent in the face of entrepreneurs responsible for the environmental pollution.

It is public knowledge that the local administration's lack of interest in raising the issue is directly related to its motive of making maximum profits out of the operation of industries in such an estate.

Kresnayana said that the improperly designed industrial site should share the blame for the negative impact. The companies in SIER may also consider processing their waste "but they can't do much as the land is limited," he added.

PT SIER as the estate manager also acknowledged the pollution caused by its industries, but denied charges that nothing had been done about it.

"We strive to reduce the pollution rate to a minimum," technical director Asmadi claimed.

He said liquid waste had been handled by an integrated waste processing system applied since the 1980s; the industrial estate has been operating since the 1970s.

By this system, all plants are required to channel their liquid waste through underground pipes to waste processing facilities located in Rungkut III, where collection tanks can be found on a three-hectare plot.

The waste is biologically processed without chemicals, and later dumped into the river after being rated as no longer dangerous. Processing fees imposed on companies range from Rp 150,000 to Rp 2 million per month.

According to Asmadi, of the over 200 factories under PT SIER, only 10 percent possess their own processing installations. Only those producing toxic and hazardous (B3) waste are obliged to own such facilities for prior processing before being piped to the central purification system.

However, he could not guarantee that the waste processed by the integrated system was completely purified. He can only make sure that SIER reminds local firms of the necessity to properly manage the environment, monitoring their waste processing and issuing warnings.

Environment awareness of Rungkut's industries has been increasing, as shown by the interest of some companies to secure ISO 14,000 standard approval, added Asmadi, without specifying the ones already submitting their applications.