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30,000 Bekasi residents affected by polluted rivers
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Workers control the mud dredging process at the West Flood Canal in Central Jakarta on Sept. 11. (JP/P.J.LEO)
The polluted rivers in Bekasi, West Java, prevent 30,000 residents from accessing clean water.
The acting director of local water company PDAM Tirta Patriot, Cecep Ahmadi, said some residents had complained about mosquito larvae and worms in the water.
For the last three days, PDAM has faced difficulty processing clean water due to the poor quality of the raw water, Cecep said.
“We tried our best to process the polluted water. We got the water from the Palanta water canal and the Jatiluhur dam [in West Java]. The water quality from these sources is usually good despite the low volume,” Cecep said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.
Cecep added that the quality of the raw water was improving so residents should not panic.
Meanwhile, Bekasi Council member Ariyanto Hendrata said he had received information that 18 companies had thrown waste into the rivers because they did not have waste water treatment plants (IPAL).
The Bekasi Environment Agency is not monitoring these companies, he said.
“This [monitoring] is important because the waste thrown into the river will be used as raw water for PDAM, which will be distributed to Bekasi residents,” Ariyanto said. (cal)
