Stretching 270 kilometers, the Citarum supplies water to households and industries in West Java and Jakarta. It is also the source of power for three hydroelectric plants that can generate a combined 1,400 megawatts of electricity. Despite being crucial to at least 27 million people in the two provinces, the Citarum earned the status of being the most polluted river in the country for its alarming levels of toxic chemicals due to industrial and household waste being dumped into it for a long time.

Responding to the ever growing pollution of the river, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo established a restoration campaign called the Citarum Harum in 2018.

The campaign, led by the West Java governor, involves the central government, local administrations, the police and even the military. It aims to control and mitigate pollution and environmental degradation in Citarum watershed areas to restore them to their original function. It has a seven-year time frame with the target of improving the river's water quality by 2025.

The campaign lists up to 13 programs, including river basin rehabilitation, waste processing, law enforcement and education for people living along the river.

West Java secretary Setiawan Wangsaatmadja said that almost all of the programs were either under way or ready to be rolled out when COVID-19 spread to the country in March. The virus crisis has since forced West Java to reallocate most of its regional budgets to fund the COVID-19 response, leaving the Citarum projects with shoestring budgets and putting most of them on hold.

“Our action plans were made before COVID-19. Whether we wanted it or not we had to review them,” Setiawan told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

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