Citarum river is the longest and largest river in West Java, Indonesia. Citarum plays a very important role as the main freshwater supply for the needs of millions of people, specially for Jakarta and West Java residents. This river affects the lives of residents, for household, irrigation, agriculture, and industry needs. However, due to the rapidly growth of industries in the vicinity of Citarum caused the emergence of industrial waste, thus contaminate this river. The water flows through Citarum has been polluted by the most hazardous waste - the toxic chemical waste - from industries. Currently, in the upstream and downstream areas of Citarum, there are approximately 3200 industries and 2000 of them are textile companies. Nevertheless, from a large number of those industries, there are still few companies implement a good wastewater management, so the industrial waste flow to the tributaries of Citarum or directly to Citarum river without any supervision from the authorities.

In principle, the industries must have a wastewater treatment installation (IPAL - Instalasi Pengolahan Air Limbah in Bahasa), but the problem is whether the IPAL is working or not. In fact, most of the industries around Citarum are not using IPAL in their production process. It makes the local residents complained about the industrial waste that caused so many negative impacts, for instance the stink, colour, and heatlh problems. Those industrial waste are not only harassing the residents, but also disrupting the ecosystem of various fishes in Citarum. Furthermore, this issue is not only caused by industrial waste, it also exacerbated by the huge amount of organic and non-organic waste thrown away to the Citarum river. It happens because there are so many residents who dispose their household trash and flush raw sewage into the river because in its area there is no public garbage collection. This is why the pollution of Citarum river become more severe and complex from year to year.

Actually, this issue has started to emerge since 2013, but it almost 5 years have passed and Citarum river is not getting better, yet even worse instead. The current condition of Citarum is a serious portrait of surface water management in Indonesia. The local government is not only quiet toward the condition of Citarum's pollution. In 2013, the government of West Java has established a 'Forum DAS Citarum' then re-named it to 'Citarum Bestari' in 2014, and so many other programs have been done, but it still has not succeeded yet. Therefore, Indonesia's President, Mr. Joko Widodo also take part in this problem by holding coordination meetings to discuss several strategic plans. Until the early 2018, there are 14 coordination meetings have been done to find a solution of Citarum's pollution.

In this year, the government created a new program called 'Citarum Harum'. It still same as the previous programs, but this program is more integrated because its directly supervised by the central government through the Ministry of Maritime Coordinator. This revitalization program in Citarum river basin area has started in February 2018 and its expected to be completed by 7 years from now. This revitalization program is created to improve the water quality in Citarum river. The government is trying to clean it as quickly as possible and hopefully in 7 years' time it can be a source of drinking water. Hence, this Citarum revitalization program certainly involves so many parties, from the local government, central government, and for sure it involves the industries and residents with a persuasive approach.

Lately, the industries that have been indicated as polluters are being educated to resolve their wastewater management issues. All industries are required to comply with the regulations by running the wastewater treatment installation and if they are still not following the regulations, then it will be a legal action to them. After all, hopefully this revitalization and law enforcement carried out by the government will raise the awareness of all elements of society to work together to bring back the Citarum river as it was in existence. This river is not dead, but it needs a tremendous amount of work from all of us because Citarum river belongs to us, then we have to preserve it together.

Source :

https://www.rappler.com/indonesia/berita/194162-misi-besar-atasi-pencemaran-sungai-citarum

https://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/id/campaigns/toxics/Air/citarum/

https://www.republika.co.id/berita/nasional/daerah/18/03/05/p54a7s384-industri-penyumbang-kehancuran-ekosistem-sungai-citarum

Images by :

1. Detikcom/Wisma Putra

2. Republika/Fauzi Ridwan