Indonesia: 65 Rivers, 5 Lakes Added to Polluted List in 2010

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 3 Jan 11;

At least five lakes and 65 rivers across the country were contaminated as a result of human activity last year, the country’s leading environmental group says.

Mukri Friatna, head of advocacy for the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said on Monday that the figure for rivers found to be polluted was up from 53 in 2009.

“These are all newly polluted rivers because we didn’t count those that were already heavily polluted, such as the Ciliwung River [in Jakarta],” he said.

The lakes polluted last year include Sentani in Papua, which has been contaminated with domestic waste, and Unhas in South Sulawesi, which is polluted with heavy metals.

The other lakes are Situ Rawa Badung in West Java (contaminated with mercury), Sembuluh in Central Kalimantan (a dumping ground for crude palm oil waste), and Penantian in South Sumatra (polluted by a nearby coal-fired power plant).

Mukri said the contamination problem has been exacerbated by the proliferation of industrial waste.

“Industries tend to dump their liquid waste during the rainy season, assuming that the rain will help wash it out to sea,” he said. “However, these days we see them dumping their waste more indiscriminately, even outside the rainy season. We found cases of this in Kalimantan. The government should be serious about assessing companies’ environmental impact.”

He added the government should also update its liquid waste disposal standards because they were no longer applicable to current conditions.

Mukri said any given stretch of the Ciliwung, for example, hosts fewer factories dumping their waste directly into the water than a similar stretch of the Citarum River, thus requiring a different policy.

The Citarum passes through several heavy-polluting industrial estates in Bekasi and has been called the world’s dirtiest river by the Asian Development Bank.

“The more factories are concentrated in an area, the more waste is dumped and hence the higher the need to boost the waste disposal standards,” Mukri said. “This is the kind of thing that the Environment Ministry needs to address.”

Sigit Hermono, the assistant deputy for river and lake degradation at the Environment Ministry, acknowledged Walhi’s findings but said he had not read the report. “I’m not directly responsible for those rivers, but I’m sure the regional [environmental] offices will be able to provide similar data,” he said.

He added the ministry had prioritized 13 rivers in Java for restoration, including the Ciliwung, and also said it would look into sources of the contamination before evaluating waste disposal standards. “You need to make sure what kinds of waste are out there.”

Five of Indonesia`s great lakes polluted in 2010, Walhi
Antara 3 Jan 11;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Five big lakes in Indonesia were in 2010 polluted by pollutants from mining activity and oil palm plantations, an envirnmental organization said.

"Besides rivers, five lakes have been polluted by waste," Mukri Friatna, an officer of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) said here Monday.

Identifying the polluted lakes, he said, Sentani lake in Papua was contaminated by household waste.

Unhas Lake in Makassar, South Sulawesi, was polluted by heavy metal waste, Mukri said, adding that Situ Rawabadung lake in East Jakarta was also polluted by mercury.

Sembuluh Lake in Seruyan District, Central Kalimantan, was polluted by CPO (Crude Palm Oil) waste while Penantian Lake in Muaraenim , Palembang, South Sumatra, was polluted by waste from a power plant.

The level of pollution in the lakes was so high that people residing around them could no longer use the water for their daily needs and for fish cultivation.

The level of pollution was measured in terms of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand and Ph in excess of normal standards.

According to Health Minister Decree no. 907/Menkes/SK/VII/2002, the acidity level (Ph) of water for consumption should be 6.5 to 8.5, in line with the standard of the World Health Organization (WHO.

Walhi had recorded that there were 75 polluting activities which affected 65 rivers and five seas in 2010.

Batota River in Kutai Timur of East Kalimantan Province and 18 others in some regions were polluted with coal mining waste, he said.

The Rembang and Indralaya rivers in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, were polluted by oil and the Nuangan river in Manado by toxic waste.

Moreover, Mukri said, the Bali River in Kotabaru, East Kalimantan, was polluted by iron ore and the Ulu Muntok river in Bangka by tin.

There were also 21 rivers in Sumatra and Kalimantan polluted by CPO waste and 22 others by industrial and mixed waste.