With 61 percent of Jakarta's rivers severely polluted, city-owned water company PAM Jaya, in looking for new sources of water for the city, has turned to Sunter Lake in North Jakarta.

“We are currently studying the lake to determine whether it could become a source of water as there may be a water spring,” PAM Jaya president director Priyatno Bambang Hernowo said on Wednesday, kompas.com reported.

He said a lot of rivers and lakes in Jakarta were potential water sources but could not yet be used because of their water quality. 

PAM Jaya, he added, was currently looking for other rivers that had the potential to supply clean water.

“I think that it would be quicker if we used the rivers and lakes in Jakarta as new sources of water,” he said.

The Jakarta governor's assistant for development and the environment, Yusmada Faisal, said that, over the course of three years, 61 percent of Jakarta's rivers had become severely polluted.

The rate of pollution had increased nearly twofold, Yusmada said, explaining that there were three categories of water pollution: grey water that contains pollutants from sink and bathwater residue; black water from toilet waste; and white water from industries. The sources of the pollution were from areas near the rivers, he said. (ami/stu)