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Black river stinks no more: City councilors
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Jakarta Council speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi (left) and several councilors walk along Kali Item near the athletes village in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta on Aug. 1, to monitor the river cleaning progress ahead of the Asian Games. (kompas.com/David Oliver Purba)
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everal members of the Jakarta City Council visited on Wednesday Kali Item (black river) nearby the athletes village in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, to monitor the cleaning progress of the river ahead of the Asian Games, saying they found that the polluted river was no longer smelly.
The councilors were City Council speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi, Gembong Warsono, Pantas Nainggolan, all from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Bestari Barus from the NasDem Party.
Prasetio said he appreciated the city administration's efforts to reduce the smell of the river.
While eating tongseng in a restaurant located around 20 meters from the river, Prasetio said he could not smell anything from the river.
“I enjoyed my meal because the river was not smelly. The food is good, I was full and sweating,” Prasetio said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.
In the long term, the Jakarta administration should dredge the river to clean it, Prasetio said.
Kali Item has been covered with a 689-meter-long black nylon net to prevent it from emanating its foul smell.
The fabric, worth Rp 580 million (US$40,002), was installed to reduce the evaporation of the polluted water, which had resulted in the unpleasant smell.
The city administration has also been trying to reduce the smell by using aerators and cleaning the water using nanobubble technology.
Previously, the ministry’s Ciliwung-Cisadane Flood Control Office (BBWSCC) provided portable pumps to help the city administration divert the flow of Sentiong River to Sunter River in the hope of reducing the smell. (cal)
