Waste is the enemy of all parties in the world. Waste can cause damage to the environment and ecosystem. In addition, waste contamination can also be harmful to human health. Waste is not just only about solid trash, it also includes liquid waste in which chemical wastes are harmful to all living things.

        River is the source of life for living things. The river is also one of the main keys that maintain the stability of the ecosystem. However, what happens if the river that is the life expectancy of living things is polluted by waste? The impact will absolutely be very serious for living things and the environment.

        In the province of West Java, precisely in Bandung regency, there is a large river that has high historical value for the civilization of its surrounding communities. However, since recent decades, that beautiful river has been home to rotting and waste bins. That beautiful river is now smelly and full of garbage.

        In 2008, the citarum river was titled as the World's Dirtiest River by the International Herald Tribune. It was then followed by The Sun who pinned the same title on December 4, 2009. It is exactly not a title to be proud of. Since the past decade, the provincial government of West Java together with the Indonesian Ministry of Environment has been working to solve this problem. After conducting various observations, the root cause of this condition is the lack of public awareness about the negative impacts that will be caused by the habit of littering the river and the lack of responsibility of industry players to process the industrial waste before it is disposed to the nature.

        Therefore, a direct revamping efforts to the community and industry players around the Citarum river needs to be done. Since 2016, the provincial government of West Java has been working on a program called Citarum Bersih, Indah, dan Lestari Movement (BESTARI), which focuses on processing waste around the Citarum river. The work program also covers the creation of eco-village around the Citarum area where local people are educated to be able to process the waste properly and no longer throw it into the river, the government also dredge the garbage from the river bed to revitalize the river that is dumped by the waste. Activities undertaken by the West Java provincial government which were only partial movement where it was only focused on waste and community treatment but have not touched on how to solve the liquid waste issue was recognized by the Governor of West Java Province had a positive impact after the evaluation were done.

        In mid-2017, the vice governor of West Java Province stated that the Citarum river which was once the dirtiest river in the world is now become the blackest river in the world. Although solid waste in and around the river has been cleared, it is still necessary to continue the effort to handle liquid waste which includes chemical waste in the river. Therefore, the provincial government seeks to strengthen existing laws to take action against irresponsible parties that pollute the Citarum river with liquid waste, especially the perpetrators of the textile industry around the river. Moreover, at the beginning of 2018, Commander of Siliwangi III Military District Major General Doni Monardo plans to involve the Regional Military Command III Siliwangi to involve themselves in the supervision of the Citarum river area in the hope that there will be no more parties to bring adverse impacts to the Citarum River.^[1]

        In conclusion, environmental problems are problems that cannot be solved overnight, it takes a long process to be able to restore the damaged environment to its original state. Therefore, as a society what we need to do is to familiarize eco-green life in our lives and support all government good policies regarding environmental conservation. Everything we can start from ourselves, all the little things can have an impact on our environment.

[1] Source: https://news.detik.com/berita-jawa-barat/d-3743825/satgas-penanganan-sungai-citarum-segera-dibentuk

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