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Ancol park launches mussel restoration project to clean seawater
The popular amusement park has launched an environmental program that eventually aims to cleanse the waters of Jakarta Bay using green mussels.
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Ancol Dreamland Park has launched an initiative to seed Ancol Lake with mussels, a filter feeder that could help cleanse the water of contaminants. (Shutterstock/-)
C
ity-owned Ancol Dreamland Park has launched a program to cultivate a colony of green mussels in Ancol Lake to exploit the bivalve's natural filteration ability to help clean the bay's water.
While research has shown that fish and mussels from Jakarta Bay are unsuitable for human consumption due to contamination by toxic and hazardous compounds (B3), live green mussels have another benefit as a natural filter for polluted water.
“This initiative is our contribution to help restore the seawater quality as well as [marine] biodiversity,” said the park’s spokeswoman, Rika Lestari.
The amusement park, along with the Jakarta Forum and youth groups Teens Go Green, Alumni Sekolah Rakyat Ancol, Rumah Millenials and park visitors, launched its program on Sunday by distributing mussel seeds in several spots on Ancol Lake, the site of the new colony.
Prior to mussel seeding, Ancol conservation manager Yus Anggoro Saputra demonstrated an experiment that placed live green mussels in two tanks filled with polluted water.
“A kilogram of green mussels can filter ten liters of seawater in an hour,” Yus said on Sunday, as quoted by Antara News.
Yus added that the experiment used water from Jakarta Bay that was contaminated with pollutants and sediment, and demonstrated how green mussels could naturally filter pollutants from seawater.
