Women start campaign against leaded gasoline

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Juju Kosasih, 47, began to suspect how dangerous the lead- polluted water supply in her neighborhood of Munjul, East Jakarta, was when she witnessed the births of three premature babies. Two were stillborn, while one died five months later.

"I worry every time someone in the neighborhood gets pregnant," said the mother of four, one of 10 women, who formed an advocacy group called Mothers Against Lead, on Monday.

The 10 women have just returned from the U.S. where they went for a comparative study on lead use. They are starting a domestic campaign against leaded gasoline and the use of the substance in other materials.

Lead is a poisonous substance most often found here in leaded gasoline and paint; two products that most developed countries have banned. Leaded paint is still freely avaliable in the country and the gasoline has been phased out only in Jakarta, Batam, Cirebon in West Java and Bali.

The government has planned to stop the nationwide use of leaded gasoline numerous times, setting an original deadline to phase it out by 1999. However, it failed to meet its latest deadline of Jan. 1 this year and has rescheduled the phase-out to October.

However, it was not paint or gasoline but polluted water leeching into groundwater supplies that was believed to have caused the diseases that afflicted the Manjul area, where Juju lives.

In 2003, Juju's family were one of 74 Munjul households who filed a civil lawsuit against the government for failing to enforce environmental laws and three companies, which they claimed caused the water pollution.

A panel of judges rejected the lawsuit in October last year because they said the residents lacked evidence. Represented by a non-governmental organization, the residents have since filed an appeal.

Laboratory tests conducted by the Regional Environmental Impact Management Agency in 2000 showed that the 70 wells used by the residents contained lead of up to 540 times the allowable level of 0.05 parts per million. The water also contained dangerous levels of zinc, nitrate and iron.

Before the deaths of the babies, all of whom were born prematurely within months of each other, the residents had felt the impact of the water pollution through mysterious skin rashes and ulcers.

Residents believe that a waste-processing company, which began operating in 1996 and ceased activities in 2000, caused the contamination to their water supplies. An employee of the company was sentenced on a separate charge to four months' jail in 2002 for polluting the wells.

Even though the wells were redrilled in 2001 and later tested safe, many residents including Kosasih are still hesitant to use the water for anything other than washing clothes and dishes and bathing.

"I even use bottled water to boil eggs because I am afraid of more lead getting into my body," she said.

Juju, who said she had suffered from a range of maladies in her years drinking the water, has tried to move out of Munjul numerous times.

"I've had many offers for the house but they all withdrew after finding out that the water had been contaminated," she said.