Elmi Rizal Elias Bernama 24 Mar 14;
JAKARTA, March 24 (Bernama) -- Seventy-five per cent of the major rivers in Indonesia are heavily polluted, Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya said Monday.
He said 60 per cent of the cause of the pollution was domestic waste.
"Of the 57 major rivers monitored for their water quality last year, 75 per cent were found to be heavily polluted," he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency when opening a technical meeting on the monitoring of water quality in Indonesia in Bengkulu City.
The meeting, attended by representatives of environmental organisations, serves as a platform to discuss the causes of pollution and strategies to preserve river water quality in the country.
River pollution was closely linked to the behaviour of the people, Balthasar said, adding that the industrial sector also contributed to the pollution of rivers.
"Rivers are regarded as the most strategic places to discard rubbish when they are actually the sources of the raw water that we utilise," he said.
-- BERNAMA
