Water from the Citarum River in West Java supports the province’s economy and its people, but pollutants from various sources are threatening the clean water supply for residents in West Java and Jakarta.

Runoff from agricultural fields, animal husbandry farms, households and factories pollutes Citarum River on a daily basis, leading to higher levels of cadmium, lead and mercury in the water, Greenpeace Indonesia said on Friday

Various kinds of non degradable organic chemicals have long sedimented at the bottom of the river, it added.

Citing the results of its investigation, Greenpeace Indonesia said water containing carcinogenic compounds had been used to irrigate paddy fields and other agricultural farms along the Citarum River’s basin area (DAS).

Piles of garbage continue to cover the water surface in several locations along the 270-kilometer-long river, which stretches from Mount Wayang in Bandung regency to Muara Gembong in Bekasi regency, both in West Java.

Greenpeace Indonesia toxic water campaigner Ahmad Ashov Birry said the group had also recorded health complaints of people living around DAS Citarum. They claim to suffer from skin diseases after using the river water for their daily needs, he added.

Several diseases that may have come from contaminated food have reportedly affected residents in the area, the activist further revealed.

“The health problems occurred after some chemical substances suspectedly poisoned [residents] who ate fish, rice and vegetables cultivated in ponds or fields near the polluted river,” Ahmad told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

To discern how much these illnesses are related to the chemical compounds of the river’s water would require more research, he added.

“At least 28 million people along Citarum’s riverbank depend on the flowing watercourse to survive, which is why it needs to be cleaned up,” said Ahmad.

The heavy pollution has prompted the government to speed up its implementation of a long-stalled Citarum River revitalization project.

The plan of action was issued in 2011 with an expected 2025 completion date, but seemed to have been forgotten after the start of its first stage in 2013.

To ensure a safe and clean supply of drinking water for the area, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ordered the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister to work with the West Java administration, the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry and the Industry Ministry to speed up the project, which aims to clean up Citarum River.

A team comprising several organizations tasked with starting the revitalization project has reportedly decided to first focus on cleaning the river from industrial waste.

I Gusti Putu Suryawirawan, the Industry Ministry’s director general for sustainability and development of access to international industries, said many factories allegedly dumped their toxic waste in Citarum River.

The ministry is set to begin evaluating 380 out of 444 textile factories established along DAS Citarum in Bandung and Cimahi by assessing the operation of their waste water treatment plants (IPAL), he added.

“They [the textile factories] were allowed to operate on the riverbank. However, a new regulation has ordered them to move 50 meters away from the DAS,” Suryawirawan said on Thursday.

The ministry has the authority to relocate factories whose operations are considered “dangerous” for the river, he added.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the Asian Development Bank had offered Rp 200 trillion (US$15 billion) in loans to fund the task. However, with the help of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police (Polri), the revitalization project will cost less, he added.

In December, Maj. Gen. Doni Monardo, the newly installed commander of the Military Area Command (Kodam) III/Siliwangi in Bandung, promised to clean up the Citarum River, which runs through his jurisdiction.

Heavy pollution in the river, which supplies 80 percent of Jakarta’s drinking water, poses a danger to the 24 million people living along its banks, he said.

Meanwhile, the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry has reportedly allocated Rp 580 billion to clean up Citarum and other rivers across West Java.

“We have planned to also revitalize Cikijing, Gedebage and Cisangkuy,” said Imam Santoso, the ministry’s director general for natural resources affairs.

West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan said he would order the relevant parties of his provincial administration to regularly clear Citarum River of sediments.

“I hope that from now on, the people living in DAS Citarum will stop polluting the river with domestic waste,” he said. (vla)

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