Saturday, August 13, 2011 00:29 AM
Citarum shoulders the burden of ignorance
Tifa Asrianti, The Jakarta Post | Mon, 08/08/2011
Citarum River has sustained lives for centuries. Today, as it covers three provinces containing the largest population mass in Indonesia, it has become badly polluted and is a major cause of flooding. While the government has started to rejuvenate its functions, it is been admitted that the road to recovery will be long. The Jakarta Post’s Tifa Asrianti takes a journey along the river to unravel the complexities involved.
Observing the waste that floats on Citarum River and its tributaries is like taking a trip to a supermarket. You can find almost everything there.
As The Jakarta Post took a walk along Cidurian River, one of Citarum River’s tributaries that runs in front of the Balai Besar Citarum river development office, a plastic bag containing what seemed to be household waste made its quiet journey along the dirty river.
“I once saw a bed flowing in this river. You can spot things that you least expect here,” Diella Dachlan from Balai Besar Citarum said.
Troubled waters: An aerial view of Citarum River, taken during a fl ood. The deforestation in the river’s upstream area triggers fl oods in Bandung, West Java. Courtesy of citarum.orgTroubled waters: An aerial view of Citarum River, taken during a fl ood. The deforestation in the river’s upstream area triggers fl oods in Bandung, West Java. Courtesy of citarum.org
Citarum River’s waste problem starts life in the upstream area, with the livestock farms located in higher areas, like Lembang and Pangalengan, which produce at least 400 tons of cow dung every day.
The waste is produced by 29,000 cows that are owned by 7,000 farmers. Currently, the farmers can only process 15 kilograms of dung per cow per day, while the remainder is dumped into Citarum River.
The river is also the waste dump for around 1,500 industries in the Bandung basin, such as Majalaya, Banjaran, Rancaekek, Dayeuh Kolot, Ujung Berung, Cimahi and Padalarang. Citarum has to accommodate 280 tons of inorganic chemical waste each day from those areas.
Household waste adds to the problem in Citarum River, with householders throwing their bathroom waste, or other waste products into the river.
Bandung Environmental Management Agency last week conducted water quality tests in 75 spots, and found 74 of them were in the heavy pollution category, as reported by Antara news agency.
The parameters that went beyond the normal level were heavy metal substances, fecal coliform, sulfide, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and dissolved oxygen (DO).
Research, conducted by PT Indonesia Power and Padjadjaran University’s research center for natural resources and the environment in 2004, found that Citarum water quality in Saguling dam was below normal levels. The mercury level, for example, had reached 0.236, while the safe level is 0.002.
The research center said that the mercury substance came from fish food and the plastics industry. Fish farmers often distribute too much fish food, which later forms sediment on the dam floor. When the underwater current brings the sediment to the surface, the fish are intoxicated and die. In 2004, 300 tons of fish died, while in 2010, 150 tons of fish died.
Other heavy metal substances come from textile factories. Nowadays, the water in Saguling dam is no longer safe for consumption, agriculture or fisheries.
Besides Saguling dam, the water quality in Cirata dam is in no better condition. Bandung Institute of Technology’s Industry Hygiene and Toxicology Laboratory, Jatiluhur Laboratory and the management of Cirata dam once conducted a joint research study and found four heavy metal substances — Lead (Pb) at 0.6 part per million (ppm), Zinc (Zn) at 22.45 ppm, Chromium (Cr) at 0.1 ppm, and Mercury (Hg) at 179.13 particle per weight — in the fish samples taken from the 6,200-hectare dam.
The three dams along Citarum River produce energy equivalent to 16 million tons of fossil fuel per year. But with 4 million cubic meters of mud and 250,000 cubic meters of waste that arrives into Saguling dam each year, the process of filtering those would require a high financial outlay.
Hermono Sigit, assistant deputy for the inland water ecosystem degradation control at the Environment Ministry, said that his office would concentrate on cleaning up Citarum River’s upstream area in five regencies or municipalities; areas which form a major source of pollution leading to the Saguling dam.
“Our work is more on controlling the pollution. We want to handle the source of the pollution,” he said.
He believed that Citarum River experienced the same thing as Ciliwung River, which is inundated with household waste.
“Household waste remains the main pollutant, but industrial waste is also a major concern; it comes in second place. We encourage the administration to commit to upholding the regulation, and the companies to build waste-treatment facilities,” he said.
He said that the clean-up project would involve local communities, including the industries, and that if everyone stopped throwing waste into the river, Citarum River would be clean again.
“To clean up the heavy metal substances, I am thinking to block certain parts of the river, take out the water and the mud sediment, and rinse it clean from the heavy metal substances and other polluting elements,” he said.
He added that the sewerage system construction to process liquid waste from the houses along Citarum River would be challenging, as it would depend on land acquisition, land clearing and funding.
Meanwhile, local communities have launched their own efforts to clean up Citarum River.
In Cikapundung River, there is Udis, a junior high school student, who always picks up garbage before and after school. His friends call him “Udis the Water Boy” because of his love toward the river.
Deni Riswandani, from PKK DAS Citarum (Citarum Community Activists), hopes that the government and local administrations will help the communities with funding, facilities and promotion.
He said that several communities have begun efforts to reduce their waste, such as recycling food sachets into bags or purses, and making biogas from the cow dung, but they still lack funding and facilities.
“It would be nice if the government supported our efforts. For example, we need promotion for the recycled products, more funding and the provision of facilities to improve the biogas production because the biogas machines capacity is still low,” he said.
T. Bachtiar, geography expert and management lecturer at Islam Nusantara University, said that Citarum River has legends and local wisdom that promote keeping nature clean.
He cited the case of an underground freshwater cave, Sangiang Tikoro, that used to produce an
eerie scream-like sound when a foreign object such as lidi (a vein of a coconut palm leaf), or even a strand of hair, entered the cave.
In the Sundanese language, sangiang means “god” while tikoro means “throat”; therefore, it means the throat god.
“There was an old saying that if you washed your hair with water from Citarum River, you should not let your hair fall in the river as it would hurt the throat god,” Bachtiar said.
Another local legend says that people should work the soil like a mother holding a baby.
“It means that if agricultural activity is located on a hill, the terrace system should be planned in a circular pattern around the hill, just like a fabric bonding a baby with its mother,” Bachtiar said.
A small village called Mahmud village along Citarum River has its own nature-related local wisdom.
The houses in the village are made from bamboo and are built on stilts. It is said that this is due to the village tradition that forbids people from building houses with bricks, and keeping livestock such as goats and geese.
Home to some 200 families, the village has a forbidden forest, where it is forbidden to cut down trees or hunt animals dwelling there.
Unfortunately, in the years following the Dutch colonial era, the forbidden forest was destroyed and turned into paddy fields and vegetable patches.
vr 12 aug 2011 - 17:38