March 24, 2012
The Environment Ministry has renewed its commitment to cleaning up the heavily polluted Ciliwung River, blaming the lack of progress so far on red tape.
Jossy Suzzana, the ministry’s head of rivers, said the Ciliwung, which flows from the Puncak highlands in Bogor and through Jakarta, emptying out in Jakarta Bay, was one of 13 major rivers across the country that would be prioritized for rehabilitation.
He said that under the new plan, the ministry expected to clean up the river in 20 years.
“In other countries, like South Korea or Japan, they give 30 to 50 years to rehabilitate a river,” he said. “So a 20-year target on our part is quite ambitious, but that’s why the government’s full commitment is needed.”
Jossy blamed the lack of progress in cleaning up the river on “administrative hitches” in getting the necessary legal standing for the program.
“All we have now is a draft of a presidential regulation on the control of water pollution in the Ciliwung,” he said.
“We need to get it [signed] immediately because this is a cross-province river, which means it’s the president’s responsibility as much as it is that of the regional administrations.”
He added that the regulation had been in the drafting stage since 2009.
Under the terms of the draft presidential regulation, the 120-kilometer-long river would be divided up into six segments to make it easier for local authorities to manage.
Segments one and three pass through Bogor district and hence would be the responsibility of the district administration.
Segment two passes through Bogor municipality and would fall under the jurisdiction of the municipality.
Segment four passes through Depok, while segments five and six pass through Jakarta.
The draft regulation also includes provisions on zoning and planning, which are meant to relocate settlements away from riverbanks.
Jossy said it was critical to start cleaning up the river immediately, given its dire condition.
“If you look at the Ciliwung, it doesn’t look like a river anymore,” he said. “It’s become a sewer for trash disposal. No river should have water that black.”
He also said that 80 to 90 percent of the pollution in the river could be traced back to household waste, from liquid waste to plastic trash.
“Only 2 percent of the original riverbank remains intact,” he said. “The rest has been taken over [by slum dwellings] because of the high population growth.”
“That’s why we also need programs to empower the local people,” he added.
Under the rehabilitation plan, the ministry expects to make the Ciliwung’s water potable again in 20 years.
None of the 13 rivers crisscrossing Jakarta are deemed clean enough to supply the city’s drinking water, which instead comes from rivers in West Java and Tangerang.
“We know where the pollution is coming from, so we can work on a recovery plan, such as installing a wastewater processing system or promoting recycling to riverbank dwellers,” Jossy said.
“We’re working with other stakeholders, such as the Public Works Ministry, the Forestry Ministry and the Health Ministry, and dividing the 20-year program into five-year steps.
“The Environment Ministry’s part in the program will be to monitor the quality of the water,” he added.
He said that once the presidential regulation for the Ciliwung program had been signed, the ministry would try to get legal standing for the 12 other heavily polluted rivers nationwide, seven of which are in Java.
“We’re preparing the Ciliwung program first, trying to get the presidential regulation issued,” he said.
“But later on, we plan to have a 2001 government regulation on water quality revised so that for the other rivers, we won’t need to get a presidential regulation in order to start working.”
The other polluted rivers in Java are the Citandui, Citarum, Bengawan Solo, Cisadane, Progo and Brantas.
Others in Indonesia include the Musi, Batanghari and Kampar rivers in Sumatra, the Barito in Kalimantan and the Sadang Mamasa in Sulawesi.
(This from the JG)
za 24 maa 2012 - 21:46