SIER now harmful pollutants for surroundings

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.