Citarum, Indonesia, the most polluted river in the world.
Indonesia is an island republic located between Southeast Asia
and Oceania, comprising 17 508 islands and in 2015 had more than 255 million
inhabitants. Out of a total of 188 countries, Indonesia ranks 113th (2015) in
the Human Development Index.
The Citarum is a river in the west region of Java, Indonesia.
It is important in the life of the island of Java because it is used as a means
of transport, irrigation and spring. The Citarum River runs 300 kilometers from
the mountains of southern Java to the sea, provides irrigation and water to more
than 25 million people, including residents of Jakarta. Now it is considered
the most polluted river on the planet, because it is the waste dump of
factories and households.
In the past it was used for fishing and irrigation, but the
factories that arrived in the 80s turned it into an immense garbage dump. The
villagers no longer fish, "rummage" in the garbage for something that
could be used to sell or negotiate with food. About 280 tons of industrial
waste and household waste of nine million people are dumped every day into the
river. There are more than 500 factories, the textile sector predominates whose
processes require chemical treatments; Many small towns bordering the Citarum
River do not have public garbage collection or landfills, so people burn their
waste or throw it into the river; suffer from skin diseases or respiratory
infections due to the inhalation of pollutants. The government promises that
water will be potable before 2025.
The river and its channels are obstructed by dense masses of bottles,
bags and other plastic containers. The river carries all kinds of pollutants
such as mercury, lead, arsenic, household waste and faecal matter from animals.
Like other countries that develop rapidly, the accumulation of waste;
Exaggerated consumption of plastic packaging and packaging leads to discard
biodegradable packaging such as banana leaves.
The environmental organization Green Cros Switzerland ranked
it as the most polluted on the planet. Greenpeace took water samples near
textile factories in 2012, found environmental contaminants and toxic chemicals
very dangerous to aquatic life and harmful to humans. The Asian Development
Bank in 2013 discovered that the river was contaminated with fecal coliform
bacteria, at levels 5,000 times higher than the permissible level in some
places. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than a quarter
of the deaths of children under the age of five are the result of environmental
pollution.
The Citarum River concentrates so much waste that the authorities
have required the intervention of the army. An Army Commander says that
"the vast majority do not want to throw their waste into the river, but
they do not know what to do with their waste since there is no collection
program or garbage dump in their villages, which is a big problem." The
military intervention program will run until 2025. Dr. Anang Sudarna of the
West Java Environmental Protection Agency says the most difficult thing is
changing people's attitude and political will. To encourage recycling,
authorities in the Bandung area support initiatives in "ecovillages"
where residents carry plastic items and receive small amounts of money. The
containers and plastic bottles can be separated from the rest of the garbage
and sold. In the NGO Greeneration, which works to change attitudes, the
solution must include changes in law enforcement, education and social
awareness. "If we educate the student and when he leaves school he sees
that the ecosystem is still broken and people are messing around, he will be
confused. That is why we must act on both sides: educate, but also apply the
law. "
The Indonesian Supreme Court, under pressure from Greenpeace
Indonesia and other community organizations, decided to suspend, cancel and
revoke government decrees that allowed the legal dumping of the three largest
factories in Indonesia. Some have ignored the laws and continue to pollute. For
environmental experts, to save the Citarum River it is necessary a joint effort
that involves residents, the government with collection and recycling programs,
the army for cleaning, and companies and industries controlling the disposal of
chemical waste.
References
El río más
contaminado del mundo
El río más
sucio del mundo. En Tailandia asumen el enorme reto de limpiar el considerado
río más contaminado del mundo antes de 2025. 05 mar 2018
Intervención
militar para desatascar el río más contaminado del mundo
El río más sucio
del mundo.
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