[Kabar-indonesia] Jakarta's highly polluted Cisadane River

[Joyo at aol.com]

also: Students study water quality of Cisadane River

The Jakarta Post 
Sunday, August 6, 2006

Residents put up with smelly water

Residents living along the Cisadane River are unable to do anything about the 
water quality of the river, which is highly polluted, even though it is a 
major water resource for millions of people living in Tangerang and West Jakarta.

Eko, a flower trader in Karawaci, said the polluted water had damaged the 
plants of dozens of traders who used the river water to water their flowers.

"Many flowers had spots or died because of the use of the river water," said 
Eko, who has been living along the riverbank for five years.

He accused a nearby bag-producing factory of causing the pollution by dumping 
its waste water directly into the river.

"The factory usually dumps its waste in the evening through that gutter. 
Sometimes, the color of the water is red, gray or black," Eko told a team from the 
Swiss German University (SGU) that was conducting a field study on pollution 
in the river.

He said residents and non-governmental organizations had complained to the 
factory but their complaints had gone unnoticed and the factory continued to 
dispose of its waste in the river.

A small red banner, which was put at the end of the gutter by an NGO, is 
still seen to mark the polluter.

SGU's dean of the school of life sciences, Maruli Panjaitan, took some 
spotted papaya leaves from the trader and promised to study the plants.

"We will ask our experts to study the impact of the pollution on the plants," 
Panjaitan said.

He asserted that dozens of factories along the riverbank contributed to the 
pollution of the river as well as household waste.

Poverty has forced thousands of residents to depend on the river to bathe and 
wash clothes.

Weak government supervision is believed to encourage the companies to 
continue disposing of their waste in the river.

Local government officials often defend the companies, saying that the 
companies use waste treatment methods to treat their waste before releasing it into 
the river.

--A. Junaidi 

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The Jakarta Post 
Sunday, August 6, 2006

Students study water quality of Cisadane River

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Although it was a public holiday, four students of the Swiss German 
University (SGU) were seen happily collecting water samples from the nearby Cisadane 
River, Tangerang, Banten, recently.

"Joining the research is better than doing nothing during the holiday as we 
can practice our knowledge and help people," one of the students, Pratiwi, said.

Pratiwi and three other friends -- Wandya, Hans Anthony and Sugiarto -- are 
students of SGU's School of Life Sciences, majoring in pharmaceutical 
engineering.

Accompanied by Maruli Panjaitan, dean of the school of life sciences, the 
students, who are now in their third semester, left their campus at the German 
Center in Bumi Serpong Damai housing complex at 9 a.m.

Arriving at the Cisadane River in Bojong Jaya subdistrict, Karawaci district 
at about 9:30 a.m., the students, helped by SGU laboratory head Dede Tisha and 
two lab assistants, prepared their equipment, such as a water tester tub and 
several bottles.

Using a wooden boat manned by a local resident, the students took samples of 
water from a certain depth at the edge and in the middle of the river and put 
the water into bottles.

After taking samples for about one hour and a lunch break at a nearby 
restaurant, the students moved to another section of the Cisadane River in 
Panunggangan and took samples of the water using a similar method.

At about 2 p.m., the young researchers returned to their campus and tested 
the water samples in their laboratory.

"It will take 14 days to discover all the substances in the water. And the 
students will watch their samples over this period," Panjaitan said.

Panjaitan said the four students were among dozens of students who joined the 
research which was conducted at 10 points along the river from Bogor, West 
Java, the upper reaches of the river, to the river mouth, where the river 
emptied into the sea in Teluk Naga area, Tangerang.

Although the research has not been completed yet, Panjaitan said tests had 
indicated that the presence of harmful substances in the river had reached an 
intolerable level.

"During the field research, many residents complained about the quality of 
the water. Many of them suffer from skin diseases," he revealed.

He said the university would submit the results of the research to the 
Tangerang municipality and regency and propose solutions to the problem.

He said SGU would also suggest a cheap method to purify water for residents 
along the riverbank.

"It would not be useful if we ask them to buy an expensive water purifier. 
But, actually, we can teach them how to purify the water in a cheap way," 
Panjaitan said.

The German-educated lecturer hoped the research would be useful for the 
people living by the river as well as the students. "It's part of our social 
obligation."

He said all the students who joined the research would be given a certificate 
that they could add to their curriculum vitae.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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