Citarum river

CITARUM RIVER

Citarum river has a length of approximately 225 km and upstream in Cisanti, the slopes of Wayang mount, South Bandung. Citarum River is a river that is quite clear and clean about 20 years ago. In 20 years ago, Citarum river is very helpful for the livelihoods of the surrounding community. Now, the Citarum river is no longer functioning as it should. Citarum is polluted. Factory’s waste and household waste flood the river’s surface.

Minister of Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya said that the main problem of Citarum river comes from solid waste that is not managed properly. She said that the importance of maximum waste management that must be done early. The problem is, the growth of waste volume is not balanced with waste management properly. According to her, the amount of garbage in the Citarum river is due too poor waste management by the community. This is also exacerbated by the limited landfill, therefore a lots garbage is finally dumped into the river. On the other hand, she also highlighted industrial waste that pollutes the Citarum river. The massive industrial development along the river has affected the quality of existing water.

One of the most significant sources of pollution for Citarum river is industrial waste. With 2.700 medium and large industries that dump their waste into river bodies, with details of around 53% not managed (Kompas, 01/04/18).

The Citarum’s pollution load has exceeded its capacity. If we let the Citarum polluted, it will have a negative impact on society and Indonesia, both health and economically. Some societies around the river have felt the direct impact of Citarum river pollution.

In 2016, according to Greenpeace, the impact of economic losses from the pollution of the Citarum river over the years with a total economic valuation approach was Rp. 11.385.532.188 .

The basic methods of waste management of Citarum river are:

1.      Landfills

Making the landfills that well designed or managed, therefore societies will throw the trash to the landfills, not to the river. It is very important that landfills do not contaminate surface water or ground water, and this is ensured by coating landfills, compaction of the top layer, and selection of locations that are not flooded.

Conducting a moratorium on the issuance of licences for Liquid Waste Disposal (IPLC) that burden the Citarum river. Improving permits, the government also needs to invest in firmer and more effective law enforcement. Improvement of monitoring industrial waste by optimizing the latest technology, for example requiring swapantau with monitoring equipment and the data must be transparent so that it can be easily accessed by the public.

2.      Incineration

After landfills, incineration is the most widely used method to eliminate the solid, liquid, and gaseous waste. Hazardous air contaminants are released by the burning of waste, due to which there are serious public concerns regarding environmental pollution.

Indonesia must have incineration that well designed and managed. The waste from landfills or Citarum river that can not recycling or reuse, it can be done with incineration.

3.      Recycling

Recycling is probably the most ideal way of managing waste, but it can be costly and difficult to implement. There are numerous products that can be recycled instead of thrown away including aluminium and steel cans, glass bottles, paper, and scrap metal.

The important thing is the societies and industry players must know where their waste is fit to throw. They can not throw their waste to the place that they want for example Citarum river. The societies also must know how to sort the garbage and throw it based on the type of the waste. Therefore, the people who has the responsibility to process it, they can organizing it well and they can do recycling for the waste that can recycle. The organizer can not organize the waste if the waste is mixed.