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span class="inline inline-right">Still waters: In a file photo, fishing boats in the Marunda area, North Jakarta, are anchored on a black and pungent river. (The Jakarta Post/R. Berto Wedhatama)The water distributed by Tirta Bhagasasi and Jaya Jakarta tap water companies is contaminated with Escherichia coli (E-coli) bacteria that comes from the Bekasi River, official said.

Tirta Bhagasasi director Wahyu Prihantono said the bacteria likely originated from the river as it often became the site for feces disposal.

“The tap water in Bekasi has been contaminated and so has the water in Jakarta,” Tirta Bhagasasi’s director Wahyu Prihantono said, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He said that the company had worked together with the Health Ministry to test the level of E-coli bacteria in the river six months ago. The samples were taken from the water channeled to customers’ houses.

“The level of contamination was much higher than the normal,” he said. adding that the maximum level of E-coli contamination in the water was 50/100 milliliter, and the contamination in the tap water was higher than the maximum level.

Tirta Bhagasasi processes the water from Bekasi River in its two water treatment plants in Rawatembaga and in Kota.

Wahyu said he was not surprised when Bekasi Environmental Agency found feces disposal carriers often dumped the feces into the Bekasi River and Cileungsi River in eastern Jakarta .

Polluted water will be dangerous if consumed as it can cause diarrhea and sometimes even leads to death.

To overcome the polluted water, Tirta Bhagasasi used chlorine to neutralize the water, Wahyu said. “That’s why customers often smell chlorine in their water,” he said, adding that the water was safe to be consumed.

The contaminated river has been reported to Bekasi mayor but no moves are taken yet.

Wahyu said domestic waste was supposed to be disposed in septic tanks and the water used for doing the laundry was dumped to a well no to the gutter as it would contaminate the surrounding neighborhood.

Bekasi Environmental Agency head, Hidayat, said it found it difficult to identify those who dump the feces to Bekasi and Cileungsi rivers .

Last week, Tirta Bhagasasi had to stop the water distribution for a week as the water was contaminated by the waste from a mosquito repellent factory nearby. The company used the portable water processing to serve the affected customers. — JP